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Invited by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Guatemala, the European Union (EU) will participate with an observation mission in the general elections on June 25. The mission will not have an easy task. The process prior to the day of suffrage has been marked by a series of irregularities and the exclusion of the main contenders, including the two favorites to win the presidency.
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Jordi Cañas Pérez, Member of the European Parliament and Head of the Electoral Mission of observation explained to RFI the characteristics and importance of the electoral observation mission (MOE).
“The objective of the electoral observation missions is to carry out an analysis of the electoral process to try to improve it, in light of international agreements and the legislation that the countries have. What the EU does in the case of an electoral mission that goes, observes, analyzes, and after the electoral process ends, proposes a series of measures either to correct deficiencies, or to improve processes with the aim of improving the democratic process ”, explains the MEP. “In a democracy, one of the key elements is the competitive election, the free choice over different candidacies to reflect the plural reality of society”, he adds.
The Guatemalan electoral process has been marked by a series of irregularities and the definitive exclusion of three of the main contenders for the presidency. The Constitutional Court decided to leave out Carlos Pineda, who was the favorite candidate to win the presidency. Previously, it also excluded Thelma Cabrera, an indigenous candidate who brought together a broad coalition of progressive forces, and Roberto Arzu, of the right-wing Podemos party.
Asked what the CEO of the EU thinks of this situation, Jordi Cañas told RFI that the “very nature of the electoral observation missions prevents him from answering that question” because, he specifies, “the electoral observation missions none of their members opinions during the electoral process. What we do is observe, take very good note, and then we will explain this and give our respective vision of these elections.
More than 120 specialists commissioned by the European Union will monitor the general elections whose first round will take place on June 25, and if there is no winner, a second round will take place on August 20. Two days after June 25, the EOM will publish its preliminary observation report. Two months after the elections they will publish the final report.
Our envoys “are in the 22 departments of the country, knowing first-hand how the situation is at the local and departmental level, because there are also elections at the local level; there is a much greater participation in the local, departmental elections. They are very important elections”, underlines Jordi Cañas.
To make the importance of the mission clearer, the head of the electoral observation mission for the 2018 Venezuelan elections, says: “We do not make assessments during the process, we do a very exhaustive job so that what we conclude in the preliminary report and in the final report can be called into question, yes, but not professionally but politically. It will not be possible to question its technical validity, and that is what makes it strong, and it is what is useful for the day after”.
