Menchu, a defender of Mayan victims of Guatemala`s bloody 1960-1996 civil war, will run in the September 9 election backed by an alliance of the Together for Guatemala party and Winaq, a newly formed coalition of indigenous leaders.

"We want to give hope to young people and women, not only women in Guatemala but women all over the world who have waited a long time for a chance to participate," Menchu told reporters at a news conference in the garden of her home in the outskirts of the capital Guatemala City.

The 1992 Nobel Peace Prize winner made the announcement with the founder and head of the Together for Guatemala party, congresswoman Nineth Montenegro, who entered politics after her husband was tortured and murdered by the Guatemalan army in 1984.

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