Electoral court of Guatemala makes official the advance of Torres and Arévalo to the second round

He Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Guatemala officialized this Wednesday the results of the elections held on June 25, where the former first lady Sandra Torres and the academic Bernardo Arevalo de Leon They advanced to the presidential runoff.

The officialization of the results was pending after last July 1 the Constitutional Courtthe highest court of the Central American country, will order a new review of the electoral records.

LOOK HERE: Guatemala Elections 2023: Supreme Court gives way to make results official and make way for the second round

The decision of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) arrives minutes after the Guatemalan Prosecutor’s Office surprisingly announced the legal suspension of Seed based on a criminal case.

However the TSE He said he was unaware of this for the moment and ordered the presidential runoff for next August 20, as scheduled in the electoral calendar.

“We have not been notified or we do not know. We were in a plenary meeting and we are not aware at this time of the scope of the resolution”, assured Irma Palenciapresident of the court.

The five titular magistrates that make up the TSE reported on their decision at a press conference, 17 days after the elections, an unusual period that generated mistrust and uncertainty in various sectors at the local and international level.

This mistrust arose after several experts, analysts and Arévalo de León himself, from the Semilla group, publicly denounced that the “pact of corrupt” what’s wrong with it “coopted” to the State. he would try to revoke his candidacy or win in some judicial way.

confirmed suspicions

Precisely those suspicions came true this Wednesday when surprisingly the Public ministry (MP, Prosecutor’s Office) reported that it requested the suspension of the legal personality of the Semilla party for an alleged case of corruptionand it was endorsed by a criminal judge of the Judicial Branch of the Central American country.

MORE INFORMATION: Indigenous chiefs ask to respect election results in Guatemala

The prosecutor of the Public Ministry of Guatemala, Rafael Curruchichesanctioned by USA in 2022 under charges of creating false cases against ex-authorities, he detailed the complaint in a message released by the entity.

Curruchiche indicated that the decision is due to a case called “Seed Corruption”, for supposed false signatures, in an unprecedented accusation in Guatemala, since according to local and international sectors had warned in recent weeks, the courts and Justice should not interfere in the results of the polls.

“The Seventh Criminal Instance Court ordered the suspension of the legal personality of the political party Semilla”, Curruchiche indicated in the message through the official channels of the Public Ministry, without mentioning the future of the elections.

official results

Arévalo de León had managed to advance to the runoff after surprisingly obtaining second place in the elections on June 25, behind former first lady Sandra Torres.

The officialization of the results was pending after the Constitutional Court, the highest court of the Central American country, ordered a new review of the electoral records on July 1, which took place from July 4 to 6.

The Guatemalan electoral process was widely marked prior to the elections by the suspension of three candidacies with the possibility of winning the presidential elections.

Arévalo de León had an unexpected victory by sneaking in second place in the ballot, after the most optimistic polls placed him in sixth or seventh place among all the candidates.

ALSO SEE: Why the Guatemalan Constitutional Court ordered not to make the election results official

He Seed Movementof a social democratic nature, was born from the anti-corruption demonstrations registered in Guatemala during 2015 and which culminated in the fall of the Government of Otto Perez Molina (2012-2015), currently in prison.

The third place in the presidential race was occupied by the candidate of the official party, Come on, Manuel Conde Orellanabut was more than 200,000 votes away from Arévalo de León.

Meanwhile, Congress, with 160 seats, was left with the majority of the pro-government group, Vamos, with 39 legislators, followed by UNE (28) and Semilla (23).

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.