Guatemala begins reviewing presidential election results after reports of alleged irregularities

Election authorities and prosecutors from political parties began reviewing the results of the presidential election on Tuesday Guatemala ordered by the court on June 25 in response to demands from right-wing forces, a move that has sparked international and local criticism.

Counting lists began Tuesday morning at the electoral operations center, an industrial complex in the Guatemalan capital, AFP noted.

The compound has been heavily guarded since Saturday by the police, army and riot police.

The Organization of American States (OAS) election observation mission returned to Guatemala on Monday in response to the decision by the country’s Constitutional Court to suspend the results of the June 25 general election.

“The mission considers it vital that the will of the people expressed in the polls is respected,” the statement stressed.

The decision comes a day after the mission criticized the “extreme juridification” of Guatemala’s electoral process, noting that “elections should be won by the polls” and not “by challenging legitimate results”.

The testing will continue throughout the week and the date on which the official result will be known has not yet been announced.

It was ordered by the country’s highest court following the provisional acceptance of a court order on Saturday promoted by a group of nine right-wing parties rejecting the results.

Second round in August

With over 95% of the minutes examined and before the Supreme Court order, the Social Democrats Sandra Torres (15.86%) and Bernardo Arévalo (11.77%) In the June 25 elections, they were the most voted among the 22 candidates. The second round of the presidential election is scheduled for August 20.

Among the parties filing the complaint are the pro-government party Vamos, which nominated Manuel Conde for the presidency, third in the race (with 7.84%), and Valor, whose candidate Zury Ríos -daughter of the late ex-dictator Efraín Ríos Montt (1982 -1983) – placed sixth (6.57%).

According to the complaints, there are more than a thousand altered records. According to official figures, this number of count sheets represents 0.82% of the 121,227 processed (out of a total of 122,293) in the audit.

With the resolution, the court ordered the Superior Electoral Tribunal to provisionally suspend “the qualification and officialization of the results” and the review of the election records.

The headquarters of the two courts have been the scene of protests from all sides. Some are demanding new elections over alleged fraud and others are asking for the results to respect the will of the people at the polls.

The route taken by the right-wing forces has sparked criticism of the “juridification of the electoral process”.

The constitutional decision was criticized by the United States, the European Union (EU), the Organization of American States (OAS), and several local academic organizations, the Catholic Church, and human rights organizations.

For the head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, this process poses a “serious threat to democracy with far-reaching consequences”.

“Actions to disrupt the election results violate the spirit of the Guatemalan constitution and threaten the legitimacy of the democratic process,” he stressed.

“This situation is now compounded by the instrumentalization of justice to seek the invalidation of an election that registered popular will on Sunday, June 25,” the OAS said in a statement.

On Monday, seven local entities that formed an Election Day Observation Mission confirmed that “Election Day was fair, legal and transparent.”