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La participación electoral de los pueblos indígenas se encuentra limitada en varios países de América Latina, entre ellos Paraguay y Guatemala. A pesar del avance legislativo de las últimas dos décadas, en ambos países existen barreras normativas que obstaculizan el ejercicio de ciertos derechos políticos de los pueblos indígenas. El objetivo de este artículo es identificar los obstáculos normativos para la participación de personas indígenas en los procesos electorales en Guatemala y Paraguay, en su calidad de electores y de candidatos y candidatas a cargos de elección popular. Para ello, se emplean niveles e indicadores puntuales.Esta investigación documental de tipo comparativo, de naturaleza cualitativa, pretende establecer las características esenciales de dos casos de estudio, a partir de una revisión de los marcos legales nacionales y de la bibliografía espe-cializada. Para lograr el objetivo propuesto, en primer término, se examina la participación de los pueblos indígenas en procesos electorales de Guatemala y Paraguay. Además, se presentan datos generales al respecto como ser por-centaje de población, familias lingüísticas, el marco jurídico de protección de derechos políticos y las características de los sistemas electorales nacionales. La comparación de dos casos de estudio expone que, pese a las diferencias respecto a algunos factores demográfi-cos, geográficos y políticos de ambos países, la legislación electoral nacional posee un efecto restrictivo similar que limita la participación y la representación de personas indígenas en el Poder Ejecutivo y en el Congreso Nacional. Entre estos obstáculos se encuentran la falta de adscripción étnica en el padrón electoral y en la inscripción de can-didaturas, así como de información sobre el nivel de participación indígena; los ingentes requisitos para el recono-cimiento de los partidos políticos y la centralización para trámites, la imposibilidad de la inscripción de candidaturas indígenas en forma independiente y la ausencia de facilidades para candidaturas indígenas por parte de los partidos políticos, la carencia de mecanismos especiales de financiamiento para partidos o candidaturas indígenas y de me-canismos de acción afirmativa para pueblos indígenas.
The electoral participation of Indigenous peoples is limited in several Latin American countries, inclu-ding Paraguay and Guatemala. Despite the legislative progress of the last two decades throughout the continent, in both countries there are still regulatory barriers that hinder the exercise of political rights of Indigenous people. In most cases, the electoral legislation itself contains numerous obstacles to the Indigenous candidates’ effective access to popularly elected positions, as well as to the exercise of their right to vote. Furthermore, the regulations of the electoral system or the legal requirements for the formation and consolidation of political parties significantly affect the representation of Indigenous peoples in both countries. Compounding this situation is the systemic exclusion of Indigenous peoples in different areas, which is also replicated in the electoral sphere.The objective of this paper is to identify the regulatory obstacles for the participation of Indigenous people in the electoral processes in Guatemala and Paraguay, as voters and as candidates for popularly elected positions.This comparative documentary research, qualitative in nature, aims to establish the essential characte-ristics of two case studies, based on a review of national legal frameworks and specialized bibliography. The study is based exclusively on documentary sources. To achieve the proposed objective, firstly, the participation of Indigenous peoples in electoral processes in Guatemala and Paraguay is examined. In addition, general data are presented such as the percentage of the Indigenous population, the number of linguistic families, the legal framework for the protection of political rights and the characteristics of the national electoral system.In this study, the selected cases are different in general, but they reach the same result. It is proposed that the main differences between both case studies stem from the percentage of Indigenous popula-tion in each country, the number of Indigenous people in each country, the geographical location and the existence or absence of experience of Indigenous people in the representation of national positions by popular election. The differences are notable between both countries, which are located in areas of the American continent, with different characteristics, Guatemala in Central America and Paraguay in South America. Regarding the percentage of Indigenous population, Guatemala is the country with the highest percentage of Indigenous population in Latin America. In contrast, the Indigenous population in Paraguay reaches only 2.29% of the national population. There are 6,518,846 Indigenous people living in Guatemala and 140,206 Indigenous people in Paraguay, which marks a difference of 6,378,640 people between both countries. Another difference between both countries is the experience of Indigenous peoples in representing national positions by popular election. In national elections in Guatemala, from 1985 onwards, several Indigenous people have been elected in Congress, specifically in the Chamber of Deputies. In contrast, in Paraguay, until now, no Indigenous person has held an elective position at the national level in the country, neither in the Executive Branch, nor in the Chamber of Senators, nor in the Chamber of De-puties. Especially in the last decade, several candidates have run for both chambers of Congress, but have failed to gather the votes necessary to occupy a seat.For the analysis of regulatory barriers, two levels of participation of Indigenous people have been con-sidered: a. as voters and b. as candidates. At the same time, the first level includes two specific indica-tors: equality in voter registration and equality in casting the vote. The level referring to participation as candidates includes four indicators: equality in the registration of candidacies, equality in the creation and registration of political parties, equality in access to the politi-cal financing system and diversity in the structure of the electoral system.The comparison of the two case studies shows that, despite the differences with respect to the afore-mentioned factors, both the electoral legislation of Guatemala and Paraguay have a similar restrictive effect that significantly limits the participation and representation of Indigenous peoples in the Execu-tive Branch and in the National Congress.
The results of the research allow us to appreciate that among the main regulatory obstacles registered in Guatemala and Paraguay is the lack of registration of ethnic affiliation in the electoral roll, which prevents determining the percentage of Indigenous people registered to vote. It is also not possible to determine the specific participation rate of Indigenous peoples in the electoral process. Likewise, the candidacy records do not include ethnic affiliation, so those who do or do not manage to hold elective positions cannot be made visible. Indeed, in neither country does the electoral legislation include any special clause on the registration and voting of Indigenous people.Regarding the creation and registration of political parties, both in Guatemala and Paraguay, there are enormous requirements for the recognition of these political organizations, in addition to the fact that various procedures and their registration are carried out centrally, only in the capital of both countries. This situation would represent an expenditure of additional resources for transportation and logistics of party representatives from the different departments and municipalities and would especially affect the Indigenous population, residing in rural areas. In Paraguay, furthermore, electoral legislation pro-hibits the creation of regional parties, which require lower expenses (transportation and advertising, organization of electoral campaigns, etc.) than national parties. This precept constitutes a barrier to the formation of Indigenous parties in geographical areas of the country with a high concentration of Indigenous population.Likewise, in Guatemala, the law stipulates that all members of a political party must know how to read and write. This requirement can limit the political participation of Indigenous peoples, considering that illiteracy rates are higher in areas with a greater concentration of Indigenous population.In Guatemala and Paraguay, the electoral system does not contemplate any type of special financing mechanism for Indigenous parties or candidates, nor does it have affirmative action mechanisms for Indigenous peoples. These mechanisms seek to promote the representation of Indigenous peoples in local, regional or national legislative bodies, when this cannot be achieved through the regular channels of electoral systems. In short, they are the main means of expressing cultural diversity in countries.
