One month before the transfer of power, prosecutors claim to have evidence of fraud —they have yet to show any— and say the election of Bernardo Arévalo should be declared void. In response, the U.S. sanctioned over 300 people on Monday, including over 100 members of Congress. But fears have been mounting that a coup could succeed if the Electoral Tribunal or Constitutional Court fall in line with the plot in the coming days.
Roman Gressier and José Luis Sanz write in El Faro English on the increasingly bizarre, and aggressive, attempts by the Attorney General to justify the overturning of the election results. However, it would appear that winners of the election have received support from the chambers of business association CACIF, and not before time.
No matter that Guatemalan President-Elect Bernardo Arévalo marched with thousands again through the streets of the capital on Thursday, or that the OAS has repeated that attempts to overturn the election outcome are “inappropriate, improper and unjustified.” No matter that Indigenous demonstrators blocked roads across the country in October and have slept and rallied for two months outside the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
This Friday, Guatemalan AG Consuelo Porras launched her most aggressive attack against the recent presidential race, alleging evidence of fraud and concluding that the election results should be declared “null and void”. She also asked Congress —for the second time in three weeks— to strip immunity from Arévalo, who she accused of money laundering and of deliberate fraud in the creation of his party, Semilla, in 2017.
By law, only the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) can certify or nullify elections, and any appeal leads to the Constitutional Court. Crucially, TSE President Blanca Alfaro reiterated on Friday that the results “have been made official and are unalterable.” But fears that attempts to prevent Arévalo from being sworn in on January 14 can succeed are increasing.
The chambers of business association CACIF, who many Arévalo allies consider to be in line with or at least tolerant of the coup, unanimously responded on Friday that Arévalo and Karin Herrera should take office, and that “any action aimed at contravening the official election results should have no place in our democracy.”
The fact that CACIF explicitly named Arévalo and Herrera appears to be particularly politically relevant, after months of meticulously omitting them from their statements.
You can read the full piece, with links and photos, here, Without Authority or Proof, Guatemalan AG Asserts Arévalo’s Election is “Null”.
Categories: Corruption, Criminalisation, Guatemala, Human Rights, Impunity, Justice, Legal, Lobbying, Presidential Elections
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