Attempts to boycott Arevalo's presidency

Edited by Ed Newman
2023-08-30 20:59:10

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By María Josefina Arce

The outlook in Guatemala ten days after the presidential runoff is uncertain. The right wing is threatening by all means the new government that will take office next January, headed by Bernardo Arévalo, who won widely in the polls last August 20.
   
Only a few hours ago, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal certified the unquestionable victory of Arevalo over his rival of the right-wing National Unity of Hope, Sandra Torres, whom he beat by 21 percentage points.
    
The former first lady has not yet acknowledged the overwhelming victory of her opponent and has referred to an alleged fraud on election day. Torres has accumulated three consecutive defeats in general elections.
    
But in addition to this, together with the certification of Arevalo's triumph, the electoral authorities provisionally suspended the Seed Movement, party of the elected president.
    
Arevalo announced legal actions to revert the measure against his political party, which he described as illegal.
    
Analysts estimate that this new action seeks to prevent Semilla's deputies from taking office in the next legislature. In this way, the new president would be left without a parliamentary bench and would face a totally adverse Congress which would make it much more difficult for him to govern.
   
It is part of the political persecution to which Semilla has been subjected, who was tried to be disqualified in view of the runoff, after Arévalo's surprising passing.
  
Even the Attorney General's Office, one month before the second round of elections, raided the headquarters of the Movement, located in the historic center of Guatemala City.
  
In the midst of this context, plans to assassinate the president-elect have also been denounced, for which reason security measures were reinforced around him and his running mate Karim Herrera.
  
This year's general elections have been described as the most controversial in the history of Guatemala, given the interference of the judiciary power disqualifying candidates who had potential in the contest, whose first round took place on June 25.
   
Arevalo's resounding victory made clear the Guatemalans' rejection of the corruption and impunity prevailing in the country and their commitment to a necessary change. However, the right wing is trying to block a government that will not respond to its interests.



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