Suspension of Guatemala Voting Results Stokes Fears of Electoral Coup

[Judi Lynn]

Víctor Peña


Monday, July 3, 2023
Roman Gressier

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The June 25 elections saw the improbable outcome of social-democrat academic Bernardo Arévalo advancing to the presidential run-off on stark promises to halt the country’s authoritarian slide and to facilitate the return of dozens of exilees.

But less than a week later, amid an intense smear campaign depicting Arévalo as an anti-family “communist”, the Constitutional Court (CC) and Supreme Electoral Tribunal intervened in favor of a slate of establishment parties looking to delay the results on accusations of “fraud”.

On Saturday night, the CC suspended the official results and ordered a review of the vote count reports, or actas, from polling centers around the country. The TSE reacted the next afternoon, complying with the order.

Despite the high court’s assertion that the revision should not alter the August 20 date of the presidential run-off nor interfere with the alternation of power in January, and the TSE’s setting of a reasonable deadline of five days for the review, there is a broad well-founded fear that these are steps to avert a presidency that could challenge governing elites.

On Sunday the Mirador Electoral, a coalition of observers of the vote including Transparency International, warned that parties’ “intent to nullify the elections… without exhausting legal procedures with the corresponding authorities to resolve objections looks to create the conditions for an electoral coup, equivalent to a coup d’état.”

More:
https://elfaro.net/en/202307/centroamerica/26915/suspension-of-guatemala-voting-results-stokes-fears-of-electoral-coup