seems to be still a neolib/rightwing victory at any rate (that may require a runoff of the top 2), but at the least the fascist Montt appears to have put up merely a disturbingly high showing in his defeat.Ex-dictator defeated in GuatemalaMonday 10 November 2003
Guatemala's former dictator Efrain Rios Montt has lost his attempt for the presidency in an election that was marked by high turnout and a lack of feared political violence.
This is according to exit polls.
As Guatemalans awaited official results on Monday, El Periodico daily published an exit poll placing opposition candidates Oscar Berger and Alvaro Colom in first and second place with 42% and 27% of the vote respectively.
Rios Montt came in third with 15% of the vote in the impoverished Latin American country, excluding him from a 28 December runoff race.
"The exit poll surveyed 1273 voters at 68 polling stations, and had a 3.8% majority positive that voter turnout was so high on this election day and all the fears were unfounded," said Tom Koenigs, head of the UN Verification Mission in Guatemala.
"Up to now, in general terms, the day was peaceful... there were problems here and there, but Guatemalans were patient," he said.
He described Sunday's vote as "the most watched elections in the history of the country," with more than 5000 observers on hand led by contingents from the Organization of American States and the European Union.
--snip--
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/577554C4-6F51-45A4-89FC-F3E9C924EE40.htm----------------------------------------------
Ex-Guatemalan City Mayor Leading ElectionMonday November 10, 2003 11:46 AM
By TRACI CARL
Associated Press WriterGUATEMALA CITY (AP) - A pro-business former mayor of the capital was leading Guatemala's presidential elections, while an ex-dictator accused of human rights abuses was trailing in third place, according to preliminary results released Monday.
With 20 percent of the vote counted, former Guatemala City Mayor Oscar Berger had 47.6 percent of the vote compared with 26.4 percent for center-left candidate Alvaro Colom and 11.2 percent for retired Gen. Efrain Rios Montt. Election officials said final results would be released at a news conference midday Monday.
A candidate needs more than 50 percent support to win the election outright. If no one candidate gets a majority, the two top vote-getters compete in a runoff on Dec. 28.
Guatemalans lined up for hours at polling stations Sunday during the country's second consecutive peacetime presidential elections, turning out in such force that officials had to extend the vote late into the night and delay official results.
Although Berger, 57, said he held out hope he would win the first round, he was already planning for a runoff election. ``We almost won the first round,'' he told reporters, citing his campaign's own exit polls.
--snip--
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3370312,00.html
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