Grand National Alliance

The Grand National Alliance ("Gran Alianza Nacional", GANA) is a political party in Guatemala. The acronym "GANA" also spells out the word "gana", from the verb "ganar", "to win".

Formation and 2003 election

GANA was created as an electoral alliance to fight the 2003 general election. In that election, held on 9 November 2003, the Grand National Alliance, won 24.3% of the vote, and 47 out of 158 seats in Congress. The presidential candidate of the alliance, Óscar Berger Perdomo, won 34.3% at the presidential elections of the same day. He won 54.1% at the second round and was elected president.

The alliance was made up of the following parties:
*Patriotic Party (Partido Patriota) (PP)
*Reform Movement (Movimiento Reformador) (MR)
*National Solidarity Party (Partido Solidaridad Nacional) (PSN)

Evolution and 2007 election

The Patriotic Party broke with the alliance in the early months of Óscar Berger's administration. [http://www.lahora.com.gt/04/05/20/paginas/opinion.htm#n8] In November 2005, the National Solidarity Party ceded its electoral registration to GANA, with which the Grand National Alliance ceased to be an alliance and became a party. In August 2006, the Reform Movement withdrew its support from GANA. [http://www.fundadesc.org/archivo/sesentaycuatro/analisis.htm]

GANA's candidate in the 2007 presidential election was former director of the national prison service Alejandro Giammattei. He came in third place in the election, with 17% of the vote. Despite the splits in the party, it did relatively well in the congressional elections, receiving 37 seats and becoming the second largest party in Congress.

External links

* [http://www.gana.com.gt/nhistoria.htm GANA web site]