2023-10-08 10:01:27
Guatemala’s Constitutional Court on Saturday ordered to guarantee the inauguration of President-elect Bernardo Arévalo scheduled for January, which is hampered by a series of legal actions.
In its judgment, broadcast on the X network, the Court asked to “preserve the democratic regime of the State, in particular the alternation in the exercise of power”, on the scheduled date of January 14, after the last elections the first round of which took place in June and the second in August.
Five days of protests and roadblocks
This decision comes after five days of protests and roadblocks to demand the resignation of Attorney General Consuelo Porras, Prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche and Judge Fredy Orellana, all three at the origin of a crusade against the Semilla party of the winner of the presidential election.
Surprise winner of the presidential election, Bernardo Arévalo, a 64-year-old social democrat, won with almost 60% of the votes. His opponent, former First Lady Sandra Torres, who denounced an alleged “fraud”, never admitted defeat.
A presidential election that we can’t see the end of
In mid-September, at the request of the three magistrates, officials from the public prosecutor’s office searched the Electoral Process Operations Center (COPE) of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) and opened ballot boxes containing ballots from the first round of the presidential election in August, sparking a wave of international indignation.
A new search took place at the end of September at the TSE headquarters during which the electoral registers for the presidential election of August 20 were seized.
Bernardo Arévalo accused the magistrates of wanting to foment “a coup d’état” in order to prevent him from gaining power. The Constitutional Court was contacted by ten lawyers who affirmed that there was a “threat that the popular will validly expressed by the people of Guatemala would not be respected”.
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