A presidential election was held in Guatemala on 17–19 December 1944. The October Revolution of 1944 had overthrown Jorge Ubico, the U.S. backed dictator of Guatemala. A junta composed of Francisco Javier Arana, Jacobo Árbenz and Jorge Toriello took power, and quickly announced presidential elections, as well as elections for a constituent assembly. The subsequent elections took place in December 1944, and were broadly considered free and fair, although only literate men were given the vote. Unlike in similar historical situations, none of the junta members stood for election. The front-runner was the philosophically conservative University professor Juan José Arévalo, of the Renovación Nacional. Arévalo's closest challenger was Adrián Recinos, whose campaign included a number of individuals identified with the Ubico regime. The ballots were tallied on 19 December 1944, and Arévalo won in a landslide, receiving more than four times as many ballots as the other candidates combined.
Presidential election results
FUPA – United Front of Arevalist Parties (The FUPA was a political electoral front. The principal partners in the front were the Popular Liberation Front (FPL) and the National Renovation Party (PRN)).
FND – National Democratic Front
PDC – Central Democratic Party
PTRD – Workers Republican-Democratic Party
PSD – Social Democratic Party
PD – Democratic Party
PCN – National Accord Party
PAN – Nationalist Action Party
UC – Civic Union
PCA – Central-American party
PCD – Democratic Constitutionalist Party