While the results of the election are now known, with a landslide win for Bernardo Arévalo, fears for democracy in Guatemala have not simply gone away as state actors in support of corruption remain powerful.
Jody García wrote in The Guardian about the run up and the various legal, and otherwise, attempts to discredit Arévalo, and criminalise his party, Movimiento Semilla, within the context of ongoing co-option of the state by corrupt actors.
Guatemala is bracing for elections this weekend seen as a key test for the rule of law, amid growing concerns over the state of democracy in Central America. Sunday’s vote takes place against a backdrop of smear campaigns, legal manoeuvring and an apparent effort to force the leading candidate out of the race.
Opinion polls show the centre-left anti-corruption candidate Bernardo Arévalo with a double-digit lead over his opponent, Sandra Torres, a former first lady who in 2011 divorced her husband in a failed attempt to dodge a constitutional ban on close relatives of the incumbent running for the office.
After Arévalo’s unexpected success in the first-round vote in June, a judge briefly suspended his party’s legal status and police officers raided the movement’s headquarters in what was seen as a barely concealed effort by the Guatemalan political establishment to foil his campaign.
The crisis prompted widespread protests in Guatemala and international outcry, with the US, European Union and Organization of American States (OAS) all issuing stark warnings against election interference.
You can read the full piece, with links, here, Guatemala elections to serve as crucial test for democracy in Central America.
Categories: Corruption, Guatemala, Human Rights, Impunity, Presidential Elections, Violence
Guatemala Solidarity Network 
Post comments here