(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Guatemalan Presidential Election Update: 'I don't like my opponent, so I challenge the results' [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-07-05 The leading vote getter in the first round is among the candidates and political parties challenging the results of the June 25th Presidential election in Guatemala. Sandra Torres, along with eight other political parties, including that of outgoing President Alejandro Giammattei, challenged the results of the polls, alleging that there was evidence of fraud in favor of center-reformist candidate Bernardo Arévalo, who finished second to make the run-off scheduled for August 20th. Ciudad Capital, Guatemala (March 2023) La Corte de Constitucionalidad (The Constitutional Court), the highest court in the country, ordered this Saturday the Tribunal Supremo Electoral (TSE — the Supreme Electoral Tribunal) to temporarily suspend the certification of the results of June 25 until the ballots for the first round are reviewed. The TSE announced this Sunday afternoon that it will abide by the order and will not make the results of the first round official until the minutes are reviewed, although it continues to defend that the process was carried out as established by electoral law. International electoral observation organizations have highlighted that the electoral process was carried out legally as well. The Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union both sent observers to the country, with OAS leaders urging the Guatemalan government to respect the integrity of the results. The European Union had backed the results and called on Guatemala's institutions and political parties to respect the electoral process and what it called the “clearly manifested will of citizens.” U.S. Secretary of State weighed in as well: x The United States supports the Guatemalan people’s constitutional right to elect their leaders via free and fair elections. We are deeply concerned by the ongoing efforts that interfere with the June 25 election result. — Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) July 2, 2023 He wrote: The United States supports the Guatemalan people’s constitutional right to elect their leaders via free and fair elections. We are deeply concerned by the ongoing efforts that interfere with the June 25 election result. (The tweet drew a number of denunciations of previous U.S. interference in the country, the region and in sovereign nations all over the world for over 200 years.) As I have noted in previous articles, the TSE has interfered in the process by banning candidates from standing for election. The Giammattei government has restricted open press, arrested political and media leaders who criticized them and continued the previous administration’s actions for banning U.N. corruption officials from working in Guatemala. Review hearings are being held this week across the country. Twelve of the 24 election boards have completed their review and are reporting their finds: so far, no apparent fraud has been uncovered in any of the twelve. These boards are in: Totonicapán, El Progreso, Petén, Huehuetenango, San Marcos, Baja Verapaz, Sacatepéquez, Retalhuleu, Quiché, Jalapa, Quetzaltenango, and Izabal. Notably, no results have come in from the vote-rich Capital City/Mixco/Villa Nueva urban and suburban areas. Acatenango is on fire. There are many active volcanic eruptions in Guatemala every year. (December 2022) Torres, from the winning UNE party, is joined by eight other parties, including the pro-government VAMOS and others that objected to the results. Their objective seems clear to many: to remove Bernardo Arévalo, of Movimiento Semilla, from his unexpected second place, a candidate who defines himself as progressive, social democrat and who remains very far from the ideology of the bureaucratic and business elites that control Guatemala. Arévalo described Torres' vote review request as lacking legal merit. Torres, the former first lady, has been down this path before: despite being the top vote-getter in the first round in 2019, she challenged the outcome, and after close investigation, the results were certified. That time, however, she faced another center-right candidate in Giammattei, who prevailed in the second round. (Any thought of swapping out the deeply-unpopular Giammattei for Torres in 2019 should be dismissed: it is as if the voters’ choices were between Trump and Pence and Pence, like Torres, lathers his pro-business and pro-police control messages in a phony veneer: Pence has phony, empty religious values and Torres has phony, empty women’s rights values. Both Giammattei and Torres — as did Trump and Pence — like to pick the winners and losers in the economic daily life of the country.) Arévalo is the wild card. Born in exile fourteen years after his father was the first democratically elected President of Guatemala and four years after the U.S.-backed coup d'état removed his father’s elected successor, Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán, Arévalo walks carefully in a society controlled by the dominant groups who, despite the end of military rule and civil war still control the infrastructure of Guatemalan life. Arévalo has been a diplomat and a U.N. advisor. His beliefs and his party platform will be covered more in depth when the results are ultimately certified. On a happier note: Guatemalans back home and in the United States celebrated the Guatemala national football team (Selección de fútbol de Guatemala) advancement in the Gold Cup series being played in the U.S.A. (This last game was played in the friendlier territory of New Jersey after games in Florida and Texas!) Thank you for reading. Alejandro Morales Related Stories Guatemalans Vote: And The Results Are Not Surprising... And Surprising Guatemalans Prepare for Sunday Elections: An Exercise in Limited Democracy Censorship, Jailing Opponents, Voter Suppression: The Conservative Script Road-Test - Guatemala [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/5/2179475/-Guatemalan-Presidential-Election-Update-I-don-t-like-my-opponent-so-I-challenge-the-results Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/