2023-10-04 08:05:21
The links, evident or tacit, that surrounded the appointment of the magistrates of the current Constitutional Court (CC) in March 2021 are no secret to anyone. But since then the political polarities have changed and so has the scenario of power, of facing the change of government. In fact, the CC is halfway through its term and in the midst of the worst national political crisis since Jorge Serrano Elías’ self-coup, 30 years ago. Curiously, the Serranazo tried to eliminate key government institutions in one fell swoop, and now the Public Ministry and a criminal judge are besieging the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), amid presidential and legislative silence, the Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office and the Judicial Branch itself. .
The Prosecutor’s Office justifies the investigation with an alleged complaint regarding the payment of electoral debt, the amount of which depends on the results obtained by each party in the elections. This is a matter that clearly falls within the jurisdiction of the TSE as the highest governing body of elections and party activity, by constitutional design. That is where the legal loopholes come in that try to sell such actions as a criminal matter, without being one. Since the cancellation of the winning party of the Presidency did not work, due to the electoral period being in force, legal minds looked for a clearly unviable shortcut.
Perhaps that is why the CC is slow to clarify the jurisdictional appeal requested by the TSE magistrates, because it knows that – according to exhaustive articles of the Magna Carta and the Electoral Law, of constitutional rank – any doubt, challenge or complaint regarding the electoral process and results is their exclusive and supreme competence, which the MP has disrespected.
Perhaps the CC has taken more than two weeks to define this definition of jurisdiction because there are acts of the Prosecutor’s Office that are unprecedented and that should not sit down. Specifically, it should be noted the violation of boxes with ballots and the spectacular kidnapping of minutes 4 and 8 of the elections, committed at the TSE headquarters last Saturday, with everything and police barricades, masked prosecutors, eagerness to take the originals, disrespect to the investiture of the TSE magistrates and, if that were not enough, intimidation by entities parallel to communicators, for exercising the free expression of thought and ensuring the population’s access to sources of information by broadcasting such an outrage live.
Citizens, social organizations, business associations, universities, academic units of the USAC not affiliated with the official rector, the Episcopal Conference, analysis centers and Guatemalan migrants in the United States have been joining the demand that the CC fulfill its duty to safeguard democracy and the rule of law through the resolution of a Competition appeal that should never have been needed but will now be a watershed.
Road blockades damage the economy and threaten the free movement of all Guatemalans, which is why their promoters must lift them. They already have legitimate rights to petition, protest and free expression to present their demands. In any case, the CC does not have six months to resolve, as happened with the Olympic statutes. Its resolution is needed as soon as possible, to avoid further complications. He cannot foist it on anyone nor can he make a rooster-hen, because his only fidelity now is with democracy and the people of Guatemala.
#resolution #protect #democracy