The Constitutional Court of Guatemala, the country’s highest court, ordered the Supreme Electoral Tribunal yesterday, provisionally, not to make official the results of the general elections held last Sunday.
In a press release, the Constitutional Court reported on its decision to endorse a legal appeal filed by nine traditional Guatemalan political parties, who argue that they fear that charges will be “adjudicated” without once again reviewing the voting records, reports Efe.
“The Supreme Electoral Tribunal must suspend the classification and officialization of results so that, by the date scheduled for the second round of the presidential election (August 20), everything has been duly cleared up,” the court said.
Faced with this situation, various sectors demanded yesterday in Guatemala respect for the elections held on June 25. “This is the problem of an autocratic regime. There are no guarantees that they will respect their results, they only accept them when they serve to legitimize themselves in power,” said Guatemalan political scientist and economist Carlos Mendoza.
Similarly, one of the largest private universities in the country, the Rafael Landívar University, issued a press release in which it requested that “the will must be respected”, in reference to the results of last Sunday’s elections.
The suspension, according to experts and analysts, creates a period of uncertainty, since, for example, the re-election of the 13 Supreme Court magistrates and renewal of the Judiciary, one of the three branches of the State, should have been carried out in 2019 and at the To date, the same officials who should have left their position four years ago remain.
The presidential elections last Sunday were won by the former first lady Sandra Torres, from the National Unity of Hope (UNE), followed by the academic Bernardo Arévalo de León, from the social democratic group Semilla, who surprisingly slipped into the second round after sweeping through urban areas.
Meanwhile, Congress was left with the majority of the pro-government group Vamos, with 39 legislators, followed by UNE (28) and Semilla (23).
For her part, former prosecutor Thelma Aldana Cabrera, a figure in the fight against corruption in the Central American country from 2014 to 2018, indicated that the corrupt class is seeking to maintain control of the State despite the result of the elections.
“What there is in Guatemala at this moment is chaos in the electoral process because for the first time in recent history, the corrupt pact lost control and they want to retake it,” said Aldana Hernández, an exile in the United States.
Meanwhile, the Guatemalan scientist and billionaire Luis Von Ahn appreciated the importance of respecting the results of the elections.
“This is a key moment in the history of Guatemala, in which we decide if we are a democracy or a kleptodictatorship. It is imperative that the results of the elections be presented,” Von Ahn pointed out.
