Constitutional Court protects with amparo a party suspended by court order

The Constitutional Court of Guatemala granted on Thursday an amparo to the Seed Movement that protects it until there is a final resolution of the judicial order that suspended its legal personalityin the face of the electoral political crisis exacerbated in the country by the court order against the political party that will go to the second round of the presidential elections.

Hours earlier, presidential candidate Sandra Torres expressed her solidarity with her competitor Bernardo Arévalo and announced the suspension of her electoral campaign. “As a candidate I want to compete on equal terms” for the August 20 ballot, Torres said. “We want to express our solidarity with the voters of the Semilla party and also with those who went to the polls,” she added.

The Registry of Citizens, the entity that registers candidacies in Guatemala, confirmed that the Constitutional Court had granted Arévalo’s party the provisional protection that they had requested, considering that the judge had no competence to hear.

He recalled that the Guatemalan electoral law states that “a party may not be suspended after an election has been called and until it has been held.”

The Guatemalan Prosecutor’s Office raided the offices of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) on Thursday morning, one day after the judicial decision that suspended the legal personality of the Seed Movement for having constituted itself as a party presumably presenting false signatures, as part of the succession of last chapters of a political crisis after the June 25 elections.

Shortly after Torres’ announcement, the TSE issued a statement in which it affirmed that “any attempt to interfere in the electoral process through prosecution or any other means… will ensure the full validity of the democratic system of government recognized in the Constitution”.

In turn, he remarked that with regard to the formation and operation of legally constituted political parties, “the only applicable rule on the matter is the Electoral and Political Parties Law, which has constitutional status.”

From the Citizens Registry, its owner Ramiro Muñoz requested a “vote of confidence for the TSE; We have been attacked, but I believe that on behalf of the media, national and international organizations and, in general, all the people of Guatemala, we have done our best work and we will continue to do so”.

And he announced that an “amparo” has already been filed in the courts against the court’s decision “before a historical event that is marking the entire nation.”

widespread rejection

The prosecution’s actions received rejection reactions from religious sectors, businessmen, students, academics, international cooperation, politicians, observation missions and governments such as Mexico, the United States and England.

“We demand that the result of the elections be respected… that the second electoral round be held on August 20 with the two most voted binomials, as stated by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal,” the Episcopal Conference of Guatemala pronounced.

From the White House, the proclamation of results was considered “positive.” facing the second round, undermining the will of the population and the legitimacy of the election”.

The G-13 block, made up of countries and multilateral organizations, expressed in a press release “its deep concern about the actions that put the highest authority of the TSE in great danger.”

Non-governmental organizations, through the Acción Ciudadana collective, filed complaints against the judge and the prosecutor who are conducting the investigation against the Semilla party, alleging abuse of power.

Arévalo, for his part, said that the actions of the Prosecutor’s Office and the judge “are not within their powers” and added that “what they are trying to do is cast doubt on our honesty.”

The Prosecutor’s Office was looking for documents in the TSE office of political parties to support the investigation against the Semilla party for allegedly having been formed by presenting false signatures.

The day before the TSE officialized the election results after two weeks of legal claims that lengthened the process and confirmed the second round between Arévalo and Torres, a candidate for the right-wing National Unity of Hope (UNE) and former first lady.

But minutes before the TSE announced its decision, the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity reported on Twitter that, at its request, a judge had suspended legal status of the Seed Movement.

At the conference in which he made the election results official, Palencia said that what was resolved by the judge had not been notified to the court. “It is something that worries us… because we know that the elections are won at the polls, derived from the sacred suffrage of the citizens and for that we have been working for a long time,” said Palencia.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, there are indications that allegedly more than 5,000 citizens were illegally adhered to the Seed Movement with the falsification of their handwriting and signature. Semilla needed 25,000 signatures to establish itself as a political party, but the complaint does not indicate how many signatures were presented to the electoral authority.

The Seed Movement, founded and led by Arévalo, caused a surprise at the polls in the elections in which 19 right-wing presidential binomials out of a total of 22 participated. the election of two Sundays ago.

Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channel Youtube and activate notifications, or follow us on social networks: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.