Presidential elections were held in Guatemala during seven days in September 1898.[1] Prior to the elections Manuel Estrada Cabrera had established the first real political party in the country's history by admitting people from outside the influential liberals to the Liberal Party.[2]
The elections were regarded as fraudulent; constitutional guarantees had been suspended for a month and opposition candidate José León Castillo had been unable to campaign. Estrada was declared the winner with 99.8% of the vote,[3] although the number of votes cast is estimated to have been at least three times the number of people eligible to vote at the time.[4] Legislative Assembly Decree 413 of 26 September declared that Estrada's term of office would begin on 15 March 1899, but he assumed the presidency on 2 October.[3]
^Jorge Luján Muñoz (2003) Las revoluciones de 1897, la muerte de J.M. Reina Barrios y la elección de M. Estrada Cabrera, Guatemala: Artemis Edinter, p63
^Robert H Holden (2004) Armies without nations: public violence and state formation in Central America, 1821-1960, New York: Oxford University Press, p54
Villagrán Kramer, Francisco. Biografía política de Guatemala: años de guerra y años de paz. FLACSO-Guatemala, 2004.
González Davison, Fernando. El régimen Liberal en Guatemala (1871–1944). Guatemala: Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala. 1987.
Dosal, Paul J. Power in transition: the rise of Guatemala's industrial oligarchy, 1871-1994. Westport: Praeger. 1995.
LaCharité, Norman A., Richard O. Kennedy, and Phillip M. Thienel. Case study in insurgency and revolutionary warfare: Guatemala, 1944-1954. Washington, D.C.: Special Operations Research Office, American University. 1964.
Taracena Arriola, Arturo. "Liberalismo y poder político en Centroamérica (1870-1929)." Historia general de Centroamérica. 1994. San José: FLACSO. Volume 4.
