Editor TLN
Supporters of the Movement for the Liberation of the Peoples, the only political party in Guatemala founded by indigenous peoples and peasants, demonstrated on Thursday in front of several offices of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal demanding that they register their presidential candidate, who have not been allowed participate in the June elections.
The demonstrators went to the headquarters in the departments of Sacatepéquez, Quetzaltenango, Quiché, Totonicapán, Chimaltenango and in the Guatemalan capital where the court is in session with banners that read “Stop fraud, resign magistrates.”
The Registry of Citizens of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), denied the registration to Thelma Cabrera, the only indigenous woman candidate for the presidency, and to the former Human Rights Ombudsman Jordán Rodas, to vice, alleging that Rodas does not have the settlement, a document that attests that he has no outstanding accounts with the State, something that Rodas denies.
By rejecting the registration of Rodas, Cabrera was automatically left out.
In an interview to Associated Press Cabrera, who had not spoken to the press because of the TSE’s accusations of campaigning early, said that not registering his party is a sign of electoral fraud.
“The political system is corrupted. The system is designed by the corrupt and corrupters themselves; they are free, but they tie up those of us who are clean,” Cabrera said in the interview.
The constitution establishes the requirements and impediments to participate in the elections and the settlement is not part of the impediments. It is established by the Law of Probity and Responsibilities of Public Officials and Employees, a lesser norm to the constitution.
The TSE has registered other candidates for public office who have open criminal proceedings, including former presidential candidate Manuel Antonio Baldizón, convicted and deported from the United States for laundering drug money to finance his electoral campaign and with two criminal proceedings for corruption open in Guatemala. This week the TSE endorsed his registration, but due to public pressure it annulled the decision.
The next June 25 Guatemalans are called to the polls to elect president, vice president, deputies to Congress, municipal mayors and deputies to the Central American Parliament to hold office for four years from 2024.
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