Congress of the Republic of Guatemala Congreso de la República de Guatemala | |
---|---|
Type | |
Type | |
History | |
Founded | 1945 |
Leadership | |
1st Vice President | Boris España, Todos since 14 January 2023 |
2nd Vice President | Sergio Arana, Vamos since 14 January 2023 |
3rd Vice President | Hérber Melgar Padilla, FCN since 14 January 2023 |
1st Secretary | Mynor Mejía Popol, Vamos since 14 January 2022 |
Structure | |
Seats | 160 members |
![]() | |
Political groups | WINAQ: 1 seat VOS: 4 seats SEMILLA: 24 seats UNE: 27 seats ELEFANTE: 1 seat Cambio: 1 seat CREO: 3 seats BIEN: 4 seats CABAL: 18 seats AZUL: 1 seat VAMOS: 40 seats PPN: 5 seats VICTORIA: 3 seats VIVA: 9 seats TODOS: 6 seats VALOR: 13 seats |
Elections | |
Closed-list proportional representation | |
Last election | 25 June 2023 |
Next election | 2027 |
Meeting place | |
![]() | |
Guatemala City | |
Website | |
www |
![]() |
---|
![]() |
The Congress of the Republic (Spanish: Congreso de la República) is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Guatemala. The Guatemalan Congress is made up of 160 deputies who are elected by direct universal suffrage to serve four-year terms. The electoral system is closed party list proportional representation. 31 of the deputies are elected on a nationwide list, whilst the remaining 127 deputies are elected in 22 multi-member constituencies. Each of Guatemalas's 22 departments serves as a district, with the exception of the department of Guatemala containing the capital, which on account of its size is divided into two (distrito central and distrito Guatemala). Departments are allocated seats based on their population size and they are shown in the table below.
Department | Deputies |
---|---|
Listado Nacional | 31 |
Distrito Central | 19 |
Alta Verapaz | 9 |
Baja Verapaz | 2 |
Chimaltenango | 5 |
Chiquimula | 3 |
El Progreso | 1 |
Escuintla | 6 |
Guatemala (Distrito) | 11 |
Huehuetenango | 10 |
Izabal | 3 |
Jalapa | 3 |
Jutiapa | 4 |
Petén | 4 |
Quetzaltenango | 7 |
Quiché | 8 |
Retalhuleu | 3 |
Sacatepéquez | 3 |
San Marcos | 9 |
Santa Rosa | 3 |
Sololá | 3 |
Suchitepéquez | 5 |
Totonicapán | 4 |
Zacapa | 2 |
Total | 160 |
Guatemala had a bicameral legislature in the 1845 constitution. It was replaced with unicameral Chamber of Representatives (Spanish: Cámara de Representantes), which was reformulated as National Assembly (Spanish: Asamblea Nacional) in 1879, which was replaced by Congress of the Republic in 1945.[1]
It is not uncommon for deputies to change parties during the legislature's term or to secede from a party and create a new party or congressional block.
The Congress of the Republic Guatemala is located in the Legislative Palace in Guatemala city.[2]
During the protests against the budget for 2021 on 21 November 2020, protestors entered the building and set parts of it on fire.[3][4][5]
Main article: 2019 Guatemalan general election |
![]() | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | National | District | Total seats | +/– | |||||
Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | ||||
National Unity of Hope | 717,204 | 17.81 | 7 | 731,015 | 17.43 | 47 | 54 | +26 | |
Vamos | 320,939 | 7.97 | 3 | 331,810 | 7.91 | 13 | 16 | New | |
National Change Union | 218,914 | 5.44 | 2 | 243,757 | 5.81 | 10 | 12 | +6 | |
Semilla | 211,691 | 5.26 | 2 | 215,669 | 5.14 | 5 | 7 | New | |
National Convergence Front | 210,307 | 5.22 | 2 | 227,144 | 5.42 | 6 | 8 | –27 | |
Bienestar Nacional | 194,067 | 4.82 | 2 | 209,206 | 4.99 | 6 | 8 | +8 | |
Vision with Values | 189,467 | 4.70 | 2 | 181,588 | 4.33 | 5 | 7 | +3 | |
Humanist Party of Guatemala | 188,234 | 4.67 | 2 | 186,776 | 4.45 | 4 | 6 | New | |
Valor | 183,814 | 4.56 | 1 | 215,338 | 5.14 | 8 | 9 | New | |
Commitment, Renewal and Order | 177,681 | 4.41 | 1 | 189,654 | 4.52 | 5 | 6 | +1 | |
Todos | 177,182 | 4.40 | 1 | 205,144 | 4.89 | 6 | 7 | –9 | |
Winaq | 141,252 | 3.51 | 1 | 144,314 | 3.44 | 3 | 4 | +3 | |
Citizen Prosperity | 131,694 | 3.27 | 1 | 152,540 | 3.64 | 2 | 3 | New | |
Movement for the Liberation of Peoples | 121,743 | 3.02 | 1 | 123,084 | 2.94 | 0 | 1 | New | |
Unionist Party | 118,337 | 2.94 | 1 | 109,736 | 2.62 | 2 | 3 | +2 | |
Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity | 112,037 | 2.78 | 1 | 116,943 | 2.79 | 2 | 3 | +2 | |
National Advancement Party | 110,016 | 2.73 | 1 | 104,900 | 2.50 | 1 | 2 | –1 | |
Victory | 101,418 | 2.52 | 1 | 71,630 | 1.71 | 2 | 3 | +3 | |
Fuerza | 77,862 | 1.93 | 0 | 99,090 | 2.36 | 0 | 0 | –1 | |
Encuentro por Guatemala | 71,668 | 1.78 | 0 | 66,250 | 1.58 | 0 | 0 | –6 | |
Podemos | 67,610 | 1.68 | 0 | 77,756 | 1.85 | 1 | 1 | –11 | |
Convergence | 49,284 | 1.22 | 0 | 51,024 | 1.22 | 0 | 0 | –3 | |
Libre | 48,267 | 1.20 | 0 | 51,518 | 1.23 | 0 | 0 | New | |
Avanza | 31,750 | 0.79 | 0 | 24,735 | 0.59 | 0 | 0 | New | |
Productivity and Work Party | 29,729 | 0.74 | 0 | 30,656 | 0.73 | 0 | 0 | New | |
Unidos | 25,258 | 0.63 | 0 | 32,111 | 0.77 | 0 | 0 | New | |
Total | 4,027,425 | 100.00 | 32 | 4,193,388 | 100.00 | 128 | 160 | 2 | |
Valid votes | 4,027,425 | 79.72 | |||||||
Invalid/blank votes | 1,024,405 | 20.28 | |||||||
Total votes | 5,051,830 | 100.00 | |||||||
Registered voters/turnout | 8,150,221 | 61.98 | |||||||
Source: TSE, TSE, IPU |