The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterresdeclared this Thursday concerned about the attempts to influence the second round of the elections in Guatemala and called on all parties to maintain impartiality and protect the right to vote and elect themselves.
Guterres, through a brief statement from his spokesman, thus reacted to the tense situation in the Central American country after the Public Ministry announced on Wednesday the suspension by a judge from the party of academic Bernardo Arévalo de León, whom moments later the Supreme Electoral Tribunal confirmed as one of the two candidates advancing to the second presidential round.
Read also: Arévalo affirms that his application cannot be suspended
Today, the Prosecutor’s Office searched the headquarters of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, further raising uncertainty about the elections, scheduled for August 20 and in which Arévalo de León should face former first lady Sandra Torres Casanova.
According to the UN, Guterres welcomes the certification of the results of the first round by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, but is concerned about “reports of attempts to influence the second round of the elections, and the growing tension this is causing, despite their certification.”
Without pointing directly to any institution, the United Nations called for “to all the actors who continue their work responsibly and impartially” ahead of the second round and stressed “the right to vote freely and to be elected in democratic processes”.
He @TSGuatemala publishes a statement indicating that UNE and Semilla remain in the second round of elections.
– CRNNoticias (@CRN_Noticias) July 13, 2023
Elections in Guatemala
The Guatemalan electoral process was widely marked prior to the elections by the suspension of three candidacies with the possibility of winning the presidential elections.
Arévalo de León, who gave the surprise by going to the second round, is the candidate of the Semilla group, which was born from the demonstrations against corruption registered in the Central American country during 2015.
The investigation by the Public Ministry, which accuses the party of alleged illegal electoral financing and the use of false signatures, was led by prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche, sanctioned by the United States in 2022 accused of creating false cases against ex-authorities.
According to statements released by social organizations, the objective of the suspension of Semilla by the Public Ministry is to “consume an electoral coup equivalent to a coup d’état.”
Polls placed Arévalo de León in eighth place in the presidential race, but the academic swept the vote in urban areas in the June 25 elections.
