Guatemala’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal files an appeal to secure ballots

Guatemala. On Friday, Guatemala’s electoral authority filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court, the country’s highest court, against the Public Prosecutor’s Office (attorney, prosecutor’s office) and eight high-ranking officials to ensure the electoral process.

The appeal of the Electoral Tribunal is directed against the Minister of the Interior (Interior) David Barrientos, the Minister of Defense Henri Reyes and the President of the Supreme Court of Justice Silvia Valdés. Also included were the country’s attorney general, Wilmer Gomez, the director of the National Civil Police, Edwin Ardiano, the Minister of Finance, Edwin Martinez, and the human rights lawyer, Jose Córdova.

What the Supreme Court of Elections intends with this order is to ensure that the ballot for the presidency and the inauguration of the elected authorities takes place on August 20, in January 2024.

The appeal states that the court decided to convict the Public Prosecutor’s Office and eight ministers “in light of the confirmed, future and imminent threat that the authorities violate the rule of democratic law and that the exercise of the functions of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal is guaranteed.”

The Electoral College opted for the procedure before the highest court one day after the public prosecution, with the support of the armed forces, raided its second facility and seized the file of an official.

Since July 12, the Guatemalan Attorney General’s office has sought to disqualify the Movimiento Simela party, which nominated progressive Bernardo Arevalo de Leon for president and who advanced to the second round in second place. That day, Movimiento Semilla was charged by Prosecutor Rafael Korocesh with allegedly incorporating fake signatures into the registration process in 2018, which First Instance Criminal Court judge Freddy Orellana ordered to be annulled. However, on July 13, the Constitutional Court, the country’s highest court, and election judges protected Simela, avoiding its annulment and clearing the way for the electoral process towards a second round on August 20, where Arevalo de Leon and winner Sandra Torres Casanova, of the National Unity of Hope (UNE), will face each other.

The electoral situation in Guatemala has drawn intense criticism, including from the Election Observation Mission of the Organization of American States (OAS), which described the Attorney General’s office’s actions as “an attempt to ignore the electoral will”.

Source: DW / Hondudiary