For the first time indigenous representatives were elected as congressional deputies, Rosalina Tuyuc and Manuela Alvarado, veterans of the human rights struggle, are elected to the Guatemalan Government lead by president Alvaro Arsu.
Rosalina Tuyuc is a Guatemalan human rights activist, elected from the national list of the New Guatemala Democratic Front, and served as Vice President of Congress.
Alvaro Arzu won the first round of the 1995 general elections in November, and then narrowly beat Alfonso Portillo of the Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG, Frente Republicano Guatemalteco) in the second round, which took place in January 1996.
As part of this peace accord, Arzus government proposed a series of reforms to the Constitution of Guatemala; these reforms included disbanding the Presidential Guard, reducing the armed forces and recognizing the rights of indigenous communities. The proposed reforms were later rejected.