While the election campaign for the Guatemalan presidential election has been dominated by the subject of fighting corruption, the two-rounds are being disrupted by fraud complaints. This is why the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) of Guatemala ordered, Thursday, June 20, an audit of the minutes of the presidential, but also legislative and municipal, Sunday, June 16.
TSE President Julio Solorzano explained at a press conference that the revision will "clarify non-compliant situations". The new count should start on Monday.
With 98% of ballots counted, former first lady Sandra Torres (Social Democrat) won 25.7% of the presidential vote, ahead of right-wing candidate Alejandro Giammattei (13.92%). They should face off in a second round, on August 11, to succeed incumbent President Jimmy Morales.
In fifth place, Thelma Cabrera, the candidate of the Movement for the Liberation of Peoples, denounced "obvious electoral fraud". Like representatives of her party, she was invited by Julio Solorzano to attend the recount. MPs also denounced frauds.
Incidents that have no impact on results, according to the OAS
The election campaign was marked by the exclusion from the competition of a figure in the fight against corruption, Thelma Aldana, a former judge and former attorney general. She was ousted in early April by the courts after complaints of political opponents on alleged hijackings while she was the head of the Guatemalan prosecutor, from 2014 to 2018.
Another symptom of the climate of political violence that prevailed throughout the campaign, the electoral district prosecutor Oscar Schaad has also left the country "to ensure (his) safety and that of (his) family because of threats, "just four days before the election.
Not to mention that unrest erupted in several municipalities Thursday where several candidates to municipal rejected the results. Despite these incidents, the Observer Mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) found that "the results reflected the reality" of the ballot.
With AFP