This Saturday, July 1, a week after the general elections in Guatemala, the Constitutional Court, the highest instance of the national Justice, requested a review of the results “in order to guarantee the purity of the electoral process “, according to a statement issued by the Court.
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The names of those who go to the second round of the presidential elections in the country could change. The Constitutional Court published a statement on July 1 in which it indicates that the electoral boards must call “a new hearing to review the scrutiny” of the last general elections on June 25.
The Court assured that the decision was taken in order to guarantee “the purity of the electoral process and that the republican, democratic and representative system does not suffer damage.”
In the legal appeal filed, the political parties said they feared charges would be awarded without reviewing the voting records again. “The Supreme Electoral Tribunal must suspend the classification and officialization of results so that, by the date scheduled for the second round of the presidential election (August 20), everything has been duly cleared up,” the court said.
The ruling comes after nine political parties challenged the results before the High Court. Among them, those of two electoral candidates whom the polls placed as possible contenders in the second round.
One of them is the right-wing party Exactof the candidate edmon mulletthe former representative of Guatemala at the United Nations, and who collected about 17% of the hopes of voting before the elections, and Worthof the candidate Zury Rios Sosaanother of the contenders who, according to the polls, also had opportunities to enter the ballot.
Uncertainty after the Court’s decision
With more than 90% of the votes counted, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Guatemala had reported on Monday, June 26, a “definitive” trend in the electoral results of the day before. Thus, he gave as winners of the first round the former first lady and center-right candidate Sandra Torres Casanova, with 15.32% of the vote, and the leftist Bernardo Arévalo de León, with 12.07% of the vote. And he programmed the country for a ballot between the two on August 20.
However, after the decision of the Constitutional Court, things could change. His decision jeopardizes the surprising second place won by leftist Arévalo of the social democratic Semilla party, a group that emerged from anti-corruption demonstrations. After hearing the news, Arévalo de León said on his official communication channels that the will of the people must be “respected” and asked to defend democracy.
The organization #JusticiaYa criticized the court’s decision shortly after it was made public. “Since they did not win as expected at the polls, the parties that make up a new Corrupt Pact turn to their CC (Supreme Court) magistrates to seek to alter the outcome of the elections in Guatemala,” the group said in a tweet.
In recent days, the Constitutional Court has been criticized for getting involved in the case when it supposedly corresponded to another entity, the Judiciary. The fact that five of the court’s magistrates had been allies of the current president Alejandro Giammattei, of the center-right Vamos party – who also signed the request for the recount of the votes – and of the contender Zury Ríos Sosa has also raised suspicion.
with EFE
