The Guatemalan prosecutor’s office on Friday considered “null and void” the presidential election won in August by Benardo Arévalo due to alleged irregularities, provoking the ire of the Organization of American States which denounced an “attempted coup”. State “.
The prosecutor, Leonor Morales, affirmed during a press conference that the investigations showed that there had been “anomalies in the drafting of the minutes closing the vote count” and that, therefore, “ the elections of the president, the vice-president, the deputies […] are automatically null and void.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) validated the elections and confirmed that Mr. Arévalo could, as planned, take office on January 14. But prosecutor Morales explained that the minutes had not been approved “by the plenary” of the TSE, and therefore should not have been used to record the results.
The head of the Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity, Rafael Curruchiche, present at the press conference, assured that all “the information that was recorded in the closing act and the ballots in all polling stations should be canceled “.
“We will present this criminal information to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal for analysis in the coming days” and it will be he who “will make the decision on the matter,” he said.
Friday’s accusations constitute, according to supporters of Mr. Arévalo, a new attempt by the prosecutor’s office led by Attorney General Consuelo Porras (placed on a list of corrupt actors by the United States), to prevent the president-elect in August to come to power.
Mr. Arévalo surprisingly won the presidential election on a program to fight corruption.
The general secretariat of the OAS, an organization based in Washington and which has 35 member states, judged that “the actions and statements of prosecutors Rafael Curruchiche and Leonor Morales constitute a revision of the constitutional order of the country, an infraction of the ‘Rule of law, and a violation of the human rights of the people of their country’.
“The attempt to invalidate this year’s general elections constitutes the worst form of democratic disintegration and the consolidation of political fraud against the will of the people,” added the OAS.
The organization’s general secretariat further calls on “President Alejandro Giammattei, the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Justice, and Congress” in Guatemala to “defend the country’s institutions and constitutional order by acting against the perpetrators of this attack, in order to preserve democracy in Guatemala.”
“Concerns”
In mid-November, the prosecutor’s office made a request to lift the immunity of Mr. Arévalo and his elected vice-president, Karin Herrera, for a case of occupation of a public university from May 2022 to June 2023.
Other legal maneuvers led to the suspension of his political party.
The United States, the European Union, the United Nations and the OAS have repeatedly strongly criticized the actions of the prosecution against the president-elect.
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Guatemala expressed “concern about actions that appear intended to undermine the integrity of the electoral process and the rule of law.”
Bernardo Arévalo led an “anti-corruption” demonstration on Thursday which brought together thousands of people in the capital and also called for the ouster of the attorney general, Ms.me Porras.
“We are marching in unity for this country which will prosper despite the corrupt,” he declared during this “March for Democracy” to cries of “Out with the corrupt!” “.
“This weak and fragile democracy that we have had, which has been violated in different ways, has nevertheless managed to create the space necessary for Guatemalans to speak out and say ‘never again, never again corruption,’” he said. he added.