civilmilitary2

Political parties in this country traditionally have served the interests of landed and industrial elites. A growing public disaffection with political parties has led to the formation of civic committees, local-level alternatives to parties. For the 1999 elections, 176 civic committees registered for municipal seats and 26 candidates were elected. Nevertheless, these new forms of civic participation are legally restrained from participating in national elections. Most Guatemalan politicians from traditional parties oppose civic committees as they feel threaten to lose local political support.

Beyond dissatisfaction with traditional political leaders, growing levels of voter apathy has also marked Guatemalan elections. For example, voter turnout for the November 12, 1995 national elections reached 47 percent, from as low as 17 percent in past elections. In the recent elections, voter turnout increased only to50 percent.

II CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS

The 1996 Peace Accords signed between the government and the revolutionary forces grouped under the Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit (URNG) established a framework for improving civil-military relations. The Accords aimed at reforming the military, an institution that has historically been a source of corruption and human rights violations. The Accords outlined three main objectives:

* Decrease the role of the military in Guatemalan politics: Granting the possibility that a civilian may become minister of defense; and redefining the role of the military
* Decrease the role of the military in Guatemalan society: Reducing the military by one-third; restricting budget allocation; and redefining its duties and mission.
* Creating systems of accountability: Facilitating the investigation of military officers for crimes and human rights violations in civilian court; creating systems for the clarification and investigation of human rights violations.