The presidential election in Guatemala is experiencing a new upheaval. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) temporarily suspended, on Monday August 28, at the request of a judge, the Semilla party of President-elect Bernardo Arevalo, who is due to take office on January 14 after the body also formalized, in the same day, the victory of the Social Democrat.
The judge’s order is “absolutely illegal”, the new head of state said at a press conference, adding that the TSE resolution only “respected” this order. “There is a process of political persecution, using the instruments of justice and judicial institutions illegally against the Semilla Movement and our candidacy,” Arevalo said.
After the first round of presidential elections on June 25, Judge Fredy Orellana ordered, at the request of prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche, the TSE to suspend Semilla and investigate alleged anomalies regarding the registration of members during its formation in 2017 The United States considers MM. Orellana and Curruchiche as “corrupt”.
The TSE had not followed the judge’s order on the grounds that it is impossible to suspend a party in the middle of the electoral process. The Constitutional Court of Guatemala then guaranteed the holding of the second round on the scheduled date between the two qualified candidates, Mr. Arevalo and Sandra Torres.
“Last Thrusts of the Corrupt System”
On August 20, Bernardo Arevalo emerged as the clear winner with more than 60% of the vote, offering himself a four-year term. His opponent denounced alleged “fraud” during the election. On Monday, the Director of the Citizen Registry, Ramiro Muñoz, complied with Judge Orellana’s order, justifying that the electoral process was over.
According to lawyers, the suspension of Semilla has no consequence on the entry into office of Mr. Arevalo. On the other hand, it can affect party members in Congress and prevent them, for example, from chairing parliamentary committees.
“In Guatemala, we are witnessing the last outbursts of the corrupt system that co-opted public institutions for decades and is now using the judicial system illegally against Semilla,” Nino Matute told Agence France-Presse. , municipal councilor of the party in the capital. “They are pushing citizens’ resistance to the limit, which could easily lead to a social explosion that we don’t want in Guatemala,” she said.
Protests against the Attorney General
The lawsuits against Semilla, initiated by the prosecution of Attorney General Consuelo Porras, also considered by Washington to be “corrupt”, provoked several demonstrations to demand her resignation.
On Monday, the Constitutional Court rejected a request by Ms Porras which sought to stop the protests and the publication on social networks of messages asking for her resignation. According to the Attorney General, these were acts of “obstruction of justice” limiting “the exercise of criminal prosecutions”.
“We Guatemalans deserve a better country and to celebrate all together this new spring which today and by popular decision is represented by Bernardo Arevalo and Karin Herrera, president and vice-president” confirmed by the TSE, highlighted Mrs Mattute.