GUATEMALA CITY — With tensions surrounding Guatemala’s June 25 presidential election heightening, President Alejandro Giammattei took the weird step of publishing an open letter Monday saying he has no intention of staying in energy past his time period.
Two weeks have handed since electoral authorities recognized two presidential candidates to face off in an Aug. 20 runoff. However the courts have intervened on the request of some political events and blocked certification of the outcomes.
The delay fed rumors that Giammattei, an unpopular chief accused by the U.S. authorities and others of backsliding on democracy, may be seeking to maintain onto energy as a result of one of many candidates within the runoff has vowed to deal with corruption.
With out offering specifics, Giammettei denounced a “marketing campaign of disinformation and completely false and biased rumors.” He stated he was telling Guatemalans that he would respect the constitutional finish of his time period on Jan. 14, 2024.
He stated the second spherical of voting ought to go forward as scheduled and he would work on the switch of energy with whomever is elected.
Final week, beneath order from the Constitutional Courtroom — Guatemala’s highest — panels reviewed precinct vote tallies that had been challenged by some political events.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal then stated the assessment didn’t change the election’s outcomes, which confirmed conservative Sandra Torres and progressive Bernardo Arévalo as the highest two vote-getters among the many 22 presidential candidates.
However late Friday, the chief justice of the Supreme Courtroom of Justice — the court docket designated to deal with the election challenges — issued an order that the method to certify the outcomes couldn’t go ahead till electoral authorities reported to her on their strategies and any inconsistencies discovered.
The president’s letter was revealed shortly earlier than the Supreme Courtroom of Justice convened Monday to resolve the pending authorized challenges to the election outcomes.
“Regardless of the emphatic language assuring the cessation of the place and the decision to respect the second spherical date, (Giammattei’s) assertion doesn’t make clear what the president would do if the Supreme Courtroom … determined for no matter motive to alter” the outcomes, stated Tiziano Breda, a Latin America knowledgeable and researcher at Italy’s Worldwide Affairs Institute.
Giammattei tries to current himself because the guarantor of the separation of powers, however he and his social gathering are the “architects” of the judicial intervention that’s delaying the certification of the outcomes, Breda stated.
Later Monday, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal urged calmed. In a broadcast information convention, tribunal President Irma Palencia stated, “We’re making our biggest effort to proceed guaranteeing the safety of the vote, as a result of this election is gained or misplaced on the poll field and that’s the place you might be invited to take part once more Aug. 20.”