President Arévalo overcomes obstacles | The ruling party achieved the presidency of the Congress in Guatemala

2024-01-20 02:05:18

Deputies related to the new president of Guatemala, Bernardo Arévalo, were elected this Friday to join the board of directors of Congress, after the vote was repeated by order of the highest judicial instance in the country. With a vote of 115 in favor, 21 against and 23 absent, the congressmen of the legislature installed on Sunday elected deputy Nery Ramos of the Blue party as president of the board, according to the broadcast on the Congress television channel.

The rest of the spaces on the board will be occupied by deputies from groups that made an alliance with the Semilla de Arévalo party, among them legislators from the National Unity of Hope who are challenging their former presidential candidate Sandra Torres, defeated in the August runoff.

A path with traps

“They believed that the annulment of the board of directors was going to overturn our mission of advancing a legislative agenda in favor of the people of Guatemala, but they only managed to strengthen us,” said representative Andrea Villagrán de Semilla, who proposed the single slate of legislators who led the board.

Ramos, former director of the Police, will replace Samuel Pérez, from Semilla, who swore in the new social democratic president early Monday morning in a ceremony that was delayed nine hours due to discussions in Congress.

However, the directive led by Pérez was challenged before the Constitutional Court by opposition deputies and right-wing organizations, who argued that the previous Congress declared the 23 current Semilla deputies “independent” by order of a judge who suspended the party. for alleged illegalities in its formation in 2017.

The Court endorsed the request on Wednesday and ordered Congress to repeat the election after considering that by being without a party, they lose legislative rights such as joining the board of directors or chairing work committees.

However, Arévalo’s deputies managed to overcome that decision and maintained the alliance with legislators from other parties to propose and approve this Friday’s board of directors that will lead Parliament for one year.

Arévalo, a 65-year-old sociologist, assumed the presidency after months of uncertainty about the investiture due to a judicial attack attributed to his promise to combat the corrupt members of the political and economic elite.