ABSTRACT
Guatemala has held relatively free and fair elections since the country's return to civilian rule in 1985. Prior to that transition, Guatemalan politics was marked by direct and indirect military rule following the 1954 coup that ended a brief democratic period. This chapter discusses the effects of those barriers on voter participation and explains why procedural barriers to participation were put in place as Guatemala's electoral system was restructured during the country's democratic transition. The obstacles of onerous voter registration procedures, centralized polling locations, and restrictive procedures for allowing voters to cast a ballot were compounded by voter education efforts that were generally characterized as insufficient, given Guatemala's socioeconomic and cultural context. While the installation of voting sites only in municipal capitals was intended to prevent election fraud, other measures affecting where voters were assigned to vote also responded to a desire to prevent election irregularities, although other factors also played a role.
