Guatemalan court suspends election results
July 3, 2023
Guatemala’s constitutional court granted a temporary injunction to nine parties that challenged the results of the June 25 vote, suspending the release of official election results, on Saturday. The court called for a new hearing to review the contested tallies in no more than five days. The electoral tribunal (TSE) said it would comply with the ruling, Sunday. (No Ficción, Prensa Libre, Prensa Libre)
The move, in response to requests from the country’s main establishment parties, comes after anti-corruption candidate Bernardo Arévalo, representing Movimiento Semilla, surprisingly came in second in the June 25 election, securing a place in the August presidential runoff, against the UNE party’s Sandra Torres. (See posts for last Monday and last Tuesday.
The attack against the electoral system is an about-face for the losing presidential candidates, who had initially conceded.
“Despite the high court’s assertion that the revision should not alter the August 20 date of the presidential run-off nor interfere with the alternation of power in January … there is a broad well-founded fear that these are steps to avert a presidency that could challenge governing elites,” reports El Faro English.
On Sunday the Mirador Electoral, a coalition of observers of the vote including Transparency International, warned that parties’ “intent to nullify the elections… without exhausting legal procedures with the corresponding authorities to resolve objections looks to create the conditions for an electoral coup, equivalent to a coup d’état.”
Elite efforts to maintain the status quo, led by the “Pact of the Corrupt,” a long-time “informal alliance of politicians, bureaucratic elites and businessmen, who protect each other to maintain power,” has pushed the country into a post-electoral crisis with uncertain future, writes analyst Edgar Gutiérrez in El País.
Essentially, the court wants to compare the tallies that were put into the electoral system with the ones from the polling places themselves to make sure they match. If necessary, the court said that it would order a new count of challenged ballots, reports the Associated Press.
Arévalo said he would ask Guatemala's electoral court to annul the top court's decision, which he described as lacking legal merit and dangerous to the electoral process, reports Reuters.
Arévalo called on Guatemalans to be on guard against attempts to manipulate the electoral outcome. "We can't let the same old parties, frustrated and disappointed by their poor results in the first round, tarnish and call into question the free decision of thousands of Guatemalans," he said in a video on social media.
The United States and the European Union rejected the move and questioned the timing of the decision. The OAS electoral observer mission said the extra scrutiny was unmerited, as there were no indications of significant irregularities. (Prensa Libre, Reuters)
More Guatemala
Guatemala’s ruling Vamos party did not make the presidential runoff, but is poised to be the largest party in Congress after the June vote, a victory analysts ascribe to a network of municipal support that belied the “punishment vote” against the national Giammattei government, reports Prensa Libre.
Machado banned from office in Venezuela
Venezuelan politician María Corina Machado, a favorite to represent the opposition in the 2024 presidential election, was barred from holding public office for 15 years, on Friday. A previous ban placed on her has been expanded because Machado supported sanctions by the United States on the Maduro government and backed former opposition leader Juan Guaidó, the country's controller general said in a letter. (Reuters, Efecto Cocuyo)
“Now we will vote with more force, more rebellion and more desire in the primaries,” tweeted Machado on Friday, saying the Venezuelan people will decide who can participate in the election. (Efecto Cocuyo)
The opposition National Primary Commission said the measure was “arbitrary,” aimed at stifling the opposition, and that Machado will be permitted to run in the opposition primary in October, and to be its unity candidate next year if she wins. (Efecto Cocuyo)
The European Union, the U.S. and the OAS spoke out against the decision. (Reuters, Efecto Cocuyo)
Brazil
The New York Times contrasts the judicial fates of Jair Bolonaro and Donald Trump, after the former Brazilian president was barred from holding political office for eight years, on Friday. “In Brazil, the courts have been proactive, fast and aggressive in snuffing out anything they see as a threat to the nation’s young democracy.”
Regional
James Bosworth grapples with the difference between the democratic banning Bolsonaro and the anti-democratic blocking of candidates in other countries in the region. “Brazil is a democracy. Unlike Nicaragua, Venezuela or even Guatemala, Brazil’s electoral court is not just independent of the presidency, but also an important check on the power of the executive and legislative branches of government.” (World Politics Review)
Haiti
António Guterres visited Haiti for the first time as United Nations Secretary General and said he’s convinced that only a “robust” international force can help the police dismantle the country’s terrorizing armed gangs. “The gangs have created a terror situation in Haiti that doesn’t allow any meaningful economic activity, and undermines the humanitarian support and that is a serious obstacle to any political process,” Guterres said in an interview with the Miami Herald.
El Salvador
El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s hardline campaign against gangs has won admirers at home and abroad. But the “Bukele Model” is a short-term, high-cost fix, argues the Guardian in an editorial. “As one critic observes, the real success story is not of the defeat of gangs, but the perpetuation of Mr Bukele’s power.”
Regional
Dutch King Willem-Alexander apologized for the Netherlands’ historical involvement in slavery and the effects that it still has today. The king’s apology comes amid a wider reconsideration of the Netherlands’ colonial past, including involvement in the Atlantic slave trade, reports the Guardian. (See Just Caribbean Updates for Dec. 19, 2022)
Cuba
Carlos Alberto Montaner, one of the most prominent voices in the Cuban diaspora and a fierce critic of Fidel Castro, died in Madrid, he was 80. (Washington Post)