The European Union Election Observer Mission (EU) in Guatemala assured this Tuesday that the elections last Sunday were carried out with “transparency”, despite the situation of “high judicial voltage” that the Central American country is experiencing.
The head of the European Union mission in Guatemala, Jordi Canyas, highlighted at a press conference the “ethical and civic commitment” of the ballot on August 20, where academic Bernardo Arévalo de León, from the Movimiento Semilla party, won the presidency for the period 2024-2028.
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However, Canyas noted that “we can not ignore” the situation that exists in the Central American nation “for legal actions” of the Public Ministry (Prosecutor’s Office) against the Supreme Electoral Tribunal since July.
The MEP also indicated that the report released this Tuesday is preliminary, pending the issuance of a final document at a later date.
“Guatemalans demonstrated a strong commitment to democracy, despite continued legal actions to disrupt the elections”stressed the observer mission through a statement.
Bernardo Arevalo de Leon
Arévalo de León, 64, surpassed former first lady Sandra Torres Casanova on Sunday in the second round of elections, with 2.4 million votes in her favor (58%) of the total, while the Unity Party candidate Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE) counted 1.5 million votes (37%).
The election on Sunday, where 45% of the 9.3 million eligible voters participated, elevates Arévalo as the new president, whose political party was born from the demonstrations against corruption in 2015.
This Tuesday, the electoral mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) also validated the cleaning of the results of the Guatemalan elections, where the results disclosed by the authorities “they leave no doubt about the will expressed by the citizens”.
The OAS denounced in its report that “The judicialization of the process continued on the edge of the vote” and that a few hours before the second round the Prosecutor’s Office “He persisted in sending intimidating signals, declaring that he did not rule out the possibility of preliminary trials” against members of Seed.
The inauguration of Arévalo de León is scheduled for next January 14 and on the same Sunday night the current president, Alejandro Giammattei, invited him to meet to “an orderly transition” once the Supreme Electoral Tribunal makes the results official.
However, various analysts and political experts do not rule out that the Guatemalan Public Ministry (Prosecutor’s Office), whose leadership is sanctioned by the United States on corruption charges, try to prevent his arrival at the Presidency, as it has done since July 12, for an alleged case of false signatures in 2018 during the creation of the party.
