Myth of the Caudillo Mayor in Guatemala

Iván Morales Carrera (@ivancarrera) recently presented the results of his research on municipal level elections in Guatemala to faculty and students at the Francisco Marroquin. In his work, he debunks the myth that Guatemala is full of mayors who sort of rule over their little fiefdoms until such time they decide to retire from public life. Instead, their is much greater turnover at the municipal level than what is commonly thought and that the examples of long serving mayors (Arnoldo Medrano, Tono Coro, and Rubelio Recinos) are more the exception than the rule. Therefore, efforts in Congress to impose term limits on mayors are misplaced. What we actually observe are dynamics similar to national-level presidential elections - the runner-up in the previous election defeats the incumbent.

You can read Ivan's entire article here.