power in another coup, which Cerezo cautiously supported. The DCG gained 21.2% of the vote in the 1984 National Congress elections, and with 20 of the 88 seats was the largest party. With this success behind them the DCG decided to postulate Cerezo for the 1985 presidential election. He began to promote the idea of talking to the United Guatemalan National Revolutionaries (URNG), an umbrella group containing the main three guerrilla groups. President (1986–1991) In the first round of the 1985 presidential elections on 3 November, Cerezo came first with 38.6% of the popular vote, and in the second round on 8 December he defeated Jorge Carpio with 68.4% of the vote. The DCG gained 51 of the 100 seats in conference, and also gained a majority in many municipalities across the country. He was both the first democratically elected president and the first civilian to take office since 1966. In his inauguration, which was met with great hopes amongst the population, he promised to ensure that what he called the dark forces of the right would not be able to break the public order or the state. He promised to change Guatemala within his first 126 days. Some of his first actions as president were to force army chief of staff and suspected human rights abuser Rodolfo Lobos Zamora to retire from the military, and to name Jaime Hernández Méndez as Minister of Defence, in what was described as a "test of wills" with the Army. The response was a new wave of terror, with many extrajudicial killings being committed by Guatemalan security forces. This battle against the forces of terror operating in the country was to be the dominant theme of his rule. According to NGO Americas Watch in 1986, 100 people a month were dying in the conflict at that time. He declared Guatemala neutral in the civil wars that were occurring in neighboring El Salvador and Nicaragua. He was a great supporter of the idea of a Central American Parliament. There were two important conferences on Central American integration in Esquipulas—the second of which, in August 1987, established the Procedure for a firm and lasting peace, the most important milestone in re-establishing peace in the region. On 11 September 1987, he established the National Commission for Reconciliation (CNR), and on 7 October negotiations between the URNG and the government began. When they failed two days later,