Development: On 3 May, the indigenous leader and Nobel peace prize laureate Rigoberta Menchú confirmed a fresh bid for the presidency for her party, Winaq, in the scheduled September 2011 general election.

Significance:  Having taken barely 3% of the vote in the 2007 presidential contest, few believe that Menchú can fare much better this year. However, her candidacy represents the first concerted effort to unite the Guatemalan Left; on 7 May she is expected to be declared presidential candidate for the Frente Amplio de Izquierda, a broad coalition comprising Winaq along with the former guerilla-turned political party Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca (URNG), the other main left-wing party, Alianza Nueva Nación (ANN), as well over 25 popular youth, indigenous and peasant organizations.

Key points:

• In the three elections since the 1996 Peace Accords which ended the 36-year bloody civil war (1999, 2003 and 2007), the Left has persistently failed to overcome internal differences and splits, costing it influence in the executive and the legislature. In the 2007 elections, the URNG and the ANN combined mustered less than 3% of the presidential vote. On 3.27% of the national vote, the URNG won just two seats in the 158-seat congress and the ANN got none.

• This is in marked contrast to the strength of former guerrilla-turned left-wing parties in El Salvador and Nicaragua. Respectively, the Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (FMLN) and the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (FSLN) now govern those countries.

• Separately, the local supreme electoral court confirmed that the first round of the elections will take place on 11 September, with a presidential run-off slated for 4 November. Aside from the presidency and congress, 333 mayoral seats in 22 departments are up for grabs, along with 20 seats in the Central American parliament (Parlacen).