Guatemala: courts uphold runoff results, but winning party suspended again

Traditional political parties challenge election results, high courts validate them, and the center-left Seed Party (Semilla) is suspended amid allegations of irregularities in the immediate aftermath of impressive election results. It may all sound repetitive, as similar events occurred after the first round election in Guatemala in June, but history repeated itself this week when center-left former diplomat Bernardo Arévalo was elected president for a four-year term, with 60 percent of the vote. 

This month’s chapters of uncertainty began to unfold after Mr. Arévalo’s second round opponent, businesswoman and former first lady Sandra Torres, refused to concede defeat. To make matters worse, her UNE party filed a complaint asking for an investigation into the Guatemalan vote count system. 

On Monday, things seemed to be running smoothly when the electoral court finally validated the victory of Mr. Arévalo and running mate Karin Herrera, raising positive expectations. 

But optimism was short-lived, as the citizens’ registry department, subjugated to the electoral courts, suspended Mr. Arévalo’s Seed Party for the second time. A similar ban had been quickly overturned in July, as such a punishment could not be enforced in the middle of an election campaign, thereby allowing the party to continue to the second round. 

After both recent announcements, Ms. Torres shared a party statement on social media that called the validation of election results “illegal” and “hasty,” and that the process will remain on hold until late October “as is determined by the law.” 

Although experts say the latest suspension is unlikely to disturb Mr. Arevalo’s inauguration on January 14, the president-elect promised to appeal, calling this yet another “illegal” act of “political persecution” against him.

Either way, the problems of the new government are not solely legal: Mr. Arévalo will face an opposition-run Congress in 2024, and many affronted by his strong positions against corruption and traditional elites.  

• Read more: IACHR denounces plan to kill Guatemala president-elect

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