Guatemala City (AFP) – The Constitutional Court, Guatemala’s highest judicial instance, confirmed this Friday the temporary exclusion of Carlos Pineda as a presidential candidate for the June elections. The businessman, who led several vote intention polls, called the decision “electoral fraud.”
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In a statement, the Constitutional Court (CC) announced on May 26 that it declared “inadmissible” the appeals of the candidate Carlos Pineda, who was trying to reverse a court ruling last Friday that suspended his candidacy for alleged irregularities in an assembly. of his party.
“Corruption won, Guatemala lost. No to electoral fraud,” the right-wing candidate wrote on Twitter after learning of the provisional resolution of the CC. It only remains for the ruling to be final, which could occur in the coming days.
I want to thank all my Guatemalan brothers for giving me their unconditional support, unfortunately we are not enough to change the course of this country, I invite you to continue fighting, participating and getting involved in the nation’s problems. Guate is worth it! pic.twitter.com/i9F202lAjU
—Carlos Pineda (@72_cpineda) May 26, 2023
Moments later, Pineda, 51, who was running for the Prosperidad Ciudadana party, joined a demonstration of dozens of his supporters in front of the Court’s headquarters. The complaint that keeps him out of contention was made by the Cambio group, to which he belonged.
Pineda Cabrera and Arzú, on the list of those excluded by the highest court
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal has already excluded several candidates for the June 25 general elections, including indigenous activist Thelma Cabrera (left) and Roberto Arzú, son of the late former president Álvaro Arzú (1996-2000), who had high intentions of vote.
In the case of Cabrera, the electoral authority alleged that his vice-presidential candidate had a current complaint and regarding Arzú it determined that he had launched his campaign before what was allowed.
In a statement released last Saturday, the European Union expressed its “concern” over “the repeated decisions on the exclusion of electoral candidacies.”
A survey by the newspaper Prensa Libre at the beginning of May placed Pineda at the top of voting intentions with 23.1%, followed by former Social Democratic first lady Sandra Torres, with 19.5%.
They are followed, with 10.1%, by former UN official Edmond Mulet (center) and, with 9.2%, the conservative Zury Ríos, daughter of the late former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt (1982-1983).
Some 9.3 million Guatemalans are called to vote to elect the successor to President Alejandro Giammattei, disapproved by 75% of the population, according to another survey by Prensa Libre.
160 deputies to Congress, 340 mayors and 20 deputies to the Central American Parliament will also be elected.
