Guatemala’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) announced on Sunday the official assignment of positions to congressional deputies, almost a month after Guatemalans elected their authorities in the most troubled electoral process in the country’s modern history.
Congress will be made up of 17 parties and two coalitions, the ruling Vamos Party will have 38 deputies, the highest number, while the National Unity of Hope (UNE) obtained 29 legislators and the Seed Movement 23.
Former first lady Sandra Torres, for UNE, and doctor in sociology Bernardo Arévalo, for the Seed Movement, will compete for the presidency on August 20 in a second round of elections.
The TSE magistrates also announced the assignment of 20 regular deputies and another 20 substitutes to the Central American Parliament.
In addition, the Court announced that a new municipality has been added to the list of places where elections will be held again for all positions, bringing the number of municipalities that will repeat the electoral process due to acts of violence during voting to six. or by court decisions.
Guatemalans spent a week of uncertainty regarding the electoral situation, since 17 days after the elections the results were still not made official.
On Wednesday, 50 minutes before the TSE officially announced a second round of elections between Torres and Arévalo, prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche reported that Judge Fredy Orellana ordered at his request to suspend the legal status of the Seed Movement.
The US government sanctioned Curruchiche in 2021 and barred him from entering the United States, accusing him of hindering the fight against corruption and undermining democracy in the Central American nation.
However, the Constitutional Court put an end to the uncertainty a day later by granting a provisional amparo to Semilla, which protects him to be able to participate in the second round of elections.
On Sunday, for the fourth consecutive day, numerous protesters with Guatemalan flags and posters repudiating prosecutor Consuelo Porras, Curruchiche’s superior, gathered in front of the Public Ministry headquarters in the capital to demand her resignation on the grounds that she acted with intent. against Seed.
Some 9.3 million Guatemalans are called to the polls on August 20, when they will elect their president for the next 4 years.
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