1966 Guatemalan general election

1966 Guatemalan general election

← 1958 6 March 1966 1970 →
Presidential election
 
Nominee Julio Méndez Juan Aguilar
Party Revolutionary PID
Running mate Clemente Marroquín Gustavo Mirón Porras
Electoral vote 35 19
Popular vote 209,204 148,025
Percentage 44.78% 31.68

President before election

Enrique Peralta Azurdia

President-elect

Julio Méndez
Revolutionary

General elections were held in Guatemala on 6 March 1966.[1] After no candidate received 50% or more of the national vote, Julio César Méndez Montenegro was elected President by Congress on 5 May.[2] In the Congressional elections, the Revolutionary Party won 28 of the 54 seats. Voter turnout was 56.27% in the presidential election and 55.01% in the Congressional elections. Despite historical odds he faced, left-of-centre Méndez, a former law professor who held the rank of civilian, would be successfully be elected and sworn in as President of Guatemala, which had at this point been long led by military government since its independence in 1847.[3]

  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen (2005) Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I, p323 ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6
  2. ^ John Dombrowski (1970) Area Handbook for Guatemala p172
  3. ^ "Guatemala: Against the Odds". Time Magazine. July 8, 1966. Retrieved June 12, 2021.