2023-12-09 00:13:21
The Guatemalan Prosecutor’s Office assured this Friday that its investigations determined that the elections in which Bernardo Arévalo was elected, against whom he is carrying out a judicial offensive, are “null” due to alleged irregularities in the first round.
In a press conference, prosecutor Augenia Morales stated that there were “anomalies in the final minutes of closing of scrutiny” so “they are null and void for the elections of president, vice president, deputies, corporations and deputies to Parlacen (Central American Parliament). )”.
The official explained that the minutes were not approved “by the plenary session of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE),” so they 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 ceremony and scrutiny in all the vote receiving boards should be annulled.”
“We are going to present this criminal information to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal so that they can analyze it in the coming days” and it will be that institution that “manages to establish what may happen,” which “will make the decision in this regard,” he asserted. .
At the same press conference, the Prosecutor’s Office also accused Arévalo of alleged illegalities in the formation of his party, Semilla, in 2018, in addition to an alleged case of money laundering, for which he insisted that his immunity from prosecution should be withdrawn. President elect.
This Friday’s accusations are a new attempt by the Prosecutor’s Office, led by Attorney General Consuelo Porras, to prevent Arévalo, who surprisingly won the elections in the second round in August, from assuming power on January 14, according to his supporters.
– “Democratic breakdown” –
In mid-November, the prosecutor’s office presented a request to strip Arévalo and the vice president-elect, Karin Herrera, of immunity, whom they accuse of instigating students who occupied the University of San Carlos, the only state university, from May 2022 to June 2023. from the country.
On repeated occasions, the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS) have raised their voices to criticize the maneuvers of the Prosecutor’s Office against Arévalo.
This Friday, the OAS reacted immediately to the Prosecutor’s Office’s statement.
“The attempt to annul this year’s general elections constitutes the worst form of democratic breakdown and the consolidation of a political fraud against the will of the people,” said the OAS General Secretariat in a statement.
Thousands of Guatemalans led by Arévalo, marched on Thursday in the capital against corruption and to demand the resignation of the attorney general, whom they accuse of orchestrating “a coup d’état” against the elected president.
The large victory of the social democrat Arévalo in the August runoff against former first lady Sandra Torres, considered the candidate of continuity, is attributed to the hopes for change that he generated with his promise to fight corruption, an endemic evil in Guatemala.
Analysts say that this has raised fears among powerful traditional political and business sectors.
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