Dozens of mostly conservative candidates are expected to compete in the June general election as divided elites seek control of a state emptied of its anti-corruption judges and prosecutors. Election lawfare to block candidacies could tip the scales, as it did in 2019. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal has already shown glimpses of partiality.
Roman Gressier writes in El Faro English on the upcoming elections in Guatemala which may lead to business as usual, or worse, but which may also offer a progressive opening. This year is an election year in Guatemala and manoeuvrings by the corrupt elites seem to be already in play.
If the words that best embody the last two years in Guatemala are corruption, judicial persecution, and impunity, then there is reason to worry about the integrity of the presidential election set for June 25. Eleven presidential tickets have already announced their bids and over 30 parties are expected to participate, but there are serious questions about election arbiters’ interest in monitoring the contest fairly.
Only a handful of candidates, most of them backed by traditional elites, have a real chance of making headway. While there is much speculation about the frontrunner, the contender generating the most buzz is Zury Ríos, the deeply controversial daughter of 1980’s dictator Efraín Ríos Montt. Her party, Valor … has joined forces with the party of Álvaro Arzú, the deceased arch-conservative ex-president from 1996 to 1999 and patriarch of a wealthy criollo family dynasty.
According to Gabriela Carrera, this alliance is “the fusion of the military sector that Zury represents with the economic elites.”
You can read the full piece, here, June 2023 Election Poses Critical Test for Guatemalan Democracy.
Soledad Quartucci writes in Latina Republic about the interesting alliance that has been formed between Thelma Cabrera and Jordán Rodas Andrade standing for Movement for the Liberation of Peoples (Movimiento para la Liberación de los Pueblos – MLP).
For Guatemalan society, Thelma Cabrera Pérez was born with three sins: Woman, indigenous and poor.
[…]
The MLP’s priority issues are health, education, community and recovery of privatized public services, such as electricity. Cabrera seeks to expand equality in Guatemala; to end impunity, and to regulate the agricultural and mining sectors to stop environmental exploitation.
The MLP’s political worldview has a plurinational outlook guided by Buen Vivir, “Good Living,” a social philosophy rooted in indigenous worldviews that, adopted in different ways by governments throughout Latin America, moves away from the idea of the market and individualism as the only generators of development, and places the individual in the context of their community and their natural environment.
You can read the full piece, with lots of photos, here, Thelma Cabrera And Jordan Rodas Will Seek The Presidency Of Guatemala In 2023.
In addition, an opinion piece in El Faro English places the elections in Guatemala within the context of national elections taking place across Central America this year.
It is not one person or one family, but rather the old economic groups, narco-politics, and the military who have retaken control of the state apparatus, now that the UN-backed anti-impunity commission, CICIG, is no longer in their way. The judiciary is once again at the disposal of these groups; meanwhile, citizen organizations — those who led the street protests that culminated in the fall of President Otto Pérez Molina in 2015 and ushered in the “Guatemalan Spring” — have been dismantled, with many of their members forced into exile. Ongoing corruption scandals and the impunity that accompanies them only show how easy it is for thieves, when they eliminate regulations on public spending and take control of the judicial apparatus, to avoid paying any consequences.
You can read the full piece here, Will Democratic Voices Make a Comeback in 2023?
In the above piece from Latina Republic there is also an overview of the elections and the timetable.
In the General Elections, the President and Vice President, the 106 deputies to the Congress of the Republic announced in the national district lists, the 340 municipal corporations or mayors will be elected. The dates to keep in mind are:
- March 24th 2023 – electoral roll closes
- June 25th 2023 – first round of the general elections will be held
- August 27th – second round of the general elections will take place
Categories: Corruption, Criminalisation, Guatemala, Human Rights, Impunity, Indigenous peoples, Justice, Presidential Elections, Solidarity in Action, Violence
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