Hundreds of Guatemalan students demonstrated this Saturday in the center of the country to demand that the authorities respect and make official the results of the elections held on June 25.
“The usual corrupt do not want to accept their defeat. Respect our vows”shouted through a megaphone a student from the University of San Carlos (state), during the route of a protest in one of the main avenues of the Guatemalan capital.
Read also: President of the CSJ suspends officialization of results
#Elections2023 Hundreds of citizens gather in front of the TSE and demand that the magistrates stop withholding the official results and give free rein to the second round. The courts -coopted- intend to give a technical blow to the elections, express university students.👀🗳️📢 #8J pic.twitter.com/9nEVLPSrp4
— Community Press Km169 (@PrensaComunitar) July 8, 2023
Some three hundred people marched towards the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) to demand that the magistrates confirm the validity of the electoral results, which have been suspended since July 1 after a controversial resolution of the Constitutional Court (CC).
The students warned that the intention of the traditional politicians and the authorities of the current government is to hinder the electoral process through the intervention of the courts.
According to analysts, the legal actions took place because on June 25 Bernardo Arévalo De León, a progressive academic, advanced surprisingly to the second electoral round, after obtaining 654,534 votes, ranking second.
“People of Guatemala wake up, we have to unite to defend our democracy”, sentenced a student leader in front of the headquarters of the electoral court.
Election Results
From July 4 to 6, the electoral boards and prosecutors of political parties carried out a comparison of the votes at the national level to comply with the order of the Constitutional Court; however, the results did not present variations.
On Friday, the president of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, Irma Palencia, pointed out that “internal procedures” are needed to be able to make the results official next week.
After making the results official, Arévalo De León, of the Seed Movement, will compete for the presidency against former first lady Sandra Torres Casanova, of the National Unity of Hope (UNE).
