Guatemalan prosecutors press case against opposition party ahead of election
Online News Editor
July 20, 2023
Guatemala City, Jul 20 (EFE).- For the second time in eight days, agents of the Guatemalan Attorney Generals Office carried out a search Thursday at the seat of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) just a month before the second round of the presidential election.
The raid was connected to the corruption charges leveled by prosecutors against Semilla, a social-democratic party whose candidate beat expectations to qualify for next months runoff.
Bernardo Arevalo de Leon, a 64-year-old lawmaker who once served as deputy foreign minister, finished second in the first round of voting on June 25, trailing former first lady Sandra Torres of the center-right UNE.
The standard-bearer of the ruling right-wing Vamos party, attorney Manuel Conde Orellana, was third, 200,000 votes behind Arevalo.
Prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche, sanctioned by the United States government last year for fabricating cases against former prosecutors who put officials behind bars for graft, accuses Semilla of accepting illegal campaign contributions and of falsifying signatures to get on the ballot.
More:
https://www.laprensalatina.com/guatemalan-prosecutors-press-case-against-opposition-party-ahead-of-election/