Roman Gressier, Gabriel Labrador and José Luis Sanz write in El Faro English about Bernardo Arŕevalo’s landslide win and the challenges looming for both his party, Movimiento Semilla, and democracy in Guatemala in the face of challenges and attacks coming from the Guatemalan political mafias.
Sociologist and diplomat Bernardo Arévalo de León, of the progressive Semilla Movement party, won the presidency in Guatemala this Sunday, August 20, by a comfortable margin of 21 points over former first lady Sandra Torres, of the National Unity of Hope (UNE). The runoff election became a referendum on the continuation of the system of political corruption that has held power in Guatemala for the past decade.
“We are a government born of a proposal to frontally fight corruption, and with the support of the people,” said Arévalo after the announcement of preliminary results showed he had obtained 58 percent of votes. “In this historic moment, it was an act of courage for each person to cast their vote.”
If they manage to overcome legal hurdles posed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office and traditional elites in recent weeks to the certification of the results and to Semilla’s legal standing in a clear attempted electoral coup intended to prevent Arévalo from taking office, he and running mate Karin Herrera, a university professor, will be sworn in on January 14. They will be the tenth administration in the democratic era in Guatemala, but just the second to identify as left-of-center.
The constant allegations of fraud made since the end of june by prosecutors and by candidate Sandra Torres had stoked fears of a turbulent election day and of a slow vote count muddled by impugnations. But hardly any conflicts emerged from the 24,427 voting tables stationed around the country. By 8 p.m., just two hours after the polls closed, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) announced a clear trend in favor of Semilla with 95 percent of votes processed. Three hours later, with every vote counted, they issued the final result: In keeping with polls in the days prior to the election, Arévalo obtained 58 percent of the 4.2 million valid votes, whereas Torres obtained 37.2 percent.
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Few doubts remain, even if Arévalo overcomes possible efforts by prosecutors to prevent his swearing-in, that there is a real threat of cancellation of Semilla’s legal standing in a spurious process, leaving the party’s 23 elected legislators without a bloc in Congress, already a minority in a chamber of 160 people.
On Thursday the Public Prosecutor’s Office announced that it had expanded its investigation of Semilla that it had announced after the first round of voting, on charges of supposed falsification of signatures in the party’s registration process six years ago. But it was on these accusations that a criminal court judge, now sanctioned by the United States for doing so, ordered the suspension of the party on July 12. While the TSE and high courts defended the party’s right to not be suspended with an election underway, this immunity will expire on October 31, when the electoral process formally concludes.
You can read the full piece, with links and photos, as well as a link to the Spanish version, here, Landslide Victory for Arévalo Rattles Political Mafias in Guatemala.
Categories: Corruption, Impunity, Justice, Presidential Elections, Solidarity in Action/Guatemala
Guatemala Solidarity Network 
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