Guatemalan Left Seeks a Broad Front

Representatives from the Guatemalan left met in Zona 2 of the capital on Saturday to discuss the possibility of creating a broad front to contest September's elections. Party leaders from the URNG and the ANN met with representatives from the country's social organizations, unions, and peasant and environmental groups.  In addition to the URNG and the ANN, a broad front might include Winaq (Rigoberta Menchu's party) and the Encuentro por Guatemala (Nineth Montenegro's party).

It's possible that the left can form a broad front to compete in the upcoming elections. They tried in 1999, 2003, and 2007 to varying degrees of failure.I can't say that there's much hope for them in this year's presidential elections, but they could pick up a few diputados and alcaldes so that the media might actually begin to cover their activities. As of today, the ANN, URNG, and EG maintain 3 seats (out of 158) in the congress - two for the URNG and one for the EG.