Guatemalan Republican Front
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The Guatemalan Republican Front (Frente Republicano Guatemalteco or FRG) is a political party in Guatemala. It was created in 1989, and formally registered} in 1990. They chose founder Efraín Ríos Montt as their Presidential candidate, but he was not allowed to stand because of a constitutional ban on former coup leaders such as himself from standing for President. By the time the decision was made to ban him it was too late for the FRG to choose another candidate. They did win 10 seats in the National Congress in those concurrent elections.
In early elections only to the Congress in 1994 the FRG gained 32 seats, becoming the largest part in the Congress. In the 1995 presidential election the FRG candidate Alfonso Portillo narrowly lost in the second round, which in Guatemala reduces the number of candidates down to 2. They gained a reduced 21 seats in the National Congress.
In 1999 Alfonso Portillo won the Presidential election, while the FRG, with 63 seats, had a majority in the National Congress. Ríos Montt became the Head of Congress, so they became the official party. Paradoxically they gained their strongest support from the same rural communities that had most suffered under the former rule of Ríos Montt between 1982 and 1983.
In the 2003 presidential elections chose Ríos Montt as it's presidential candidate. This resulted in the besiegement of Guatemala City by FRG supporters bussed in from all over the country on 24th July, a day known as Jueves Negro (Black Thursday). Days later the ban on Ríos Montt standing was then revoked by the Supreme Court. Some claimed that the FRG rigged this vote by placing a majority of their own party supporters in it, echoing Ríos Montt's claim that the judiciary was rigged against him when the decision did not find in his favor. In spite of a vigorous campaign Ríos Montt only came third in the first round of the election, and the FRG did not retain their majority in the National Congress.
See also: List of political parties in Guatemala,