The tension in Guatemala has not abated. President-elect Bernardo Arévalo denounced on Friday (September 1st) the existence of a "coup d'état" project aimed at preventing him from taking power in January after winning the election on 20th August with the promise to fight corruption.
"There is a group of corrupt politicians and officials who refuse to accept the result (of the election) and who have put in place a plan to break the constitutional order and violate democracy," Arévalo told a news conference.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) on Monday suspended, at the request of a judge, Bernardo Arévalo's Semilla party. He denounced "a process of political persecution" against him and his party.
This time, he considers that "these actions constitute a coup d'état promoted by the institutions that should guarantee justice in our country".
"Defending democracy"
"As President-elect of the Republic, I call (...) all Guatemalans who reject corruption and authoritarianism to join forces to defend democracy," the social democrat insisted.
On Wednesday, the Guatemalan parliament ended the Semilla group. As a result, its five deputies, including Bernardo Arévalo, will no longer be able to chair committees or participate in the drafting of the legislative agenda. In the next legislature, which is due to take office with Bernardo Arévalo as president on 14 January, Semilla will have 23 deputies.
"If Semilla loses its legal status, the only implication is that its deputies would not be able to assume their functions as members of a parliamentary group, this does not affect the investiture of the deputies, let alone that of the president and vice president," independent analyst Luis Linares told AFP.
"It could be that they use (judicialization) as an element of pressure to get him to negotiate, but on spurious grounds, to give them impunity or quotas of power," he said.
The United States and the European Union respectively denounced "efforts by the prosecution and other actors to suspend the political party of the elected president and intimidate electoral authorities" and were "concerned about persistent attempts to undermine election results through selective and arbitrary legal and procedural actions."
"Application for annulment"
On Tuesday, Semilla's lawyer, Juan Gerardo Guerrero, told the press that he had filed "a motion for annulment" with the TSE.
After the first round of the presidential election on June 25, Judge Fredy Orellana had already ordered the TSE, at the request of prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche, to suspend the party and investigate alleged anomalies regarding the registration of members during its formation in 2017. The United States considers Fredy Orellana and Rafael Curruchiche "corrupt".
The TSE had not followed the judge's order on the grounds that it is impossible to suspend a party in the middle of an electoral process.
Guatemala's Constitutional Court then guaranteed the holding of the second round on the scheduled date between the two qualified candidates, Bernardo Arévalo and former First Lady Sandra Torres.
On 20th August Bernardo Arévalo emerged as the clear winner with nearly 60% of the vote. Her opponent, herself seen as corrupt by many Guatemalans, denounced alleged "fraud" during the election and never conceded defeat.
With AFP
The summary of the weekFrance 24 invites you to look back on the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news with you everywhere! Download the France 24 app