The legal status of the political party that went to the second round of the Guatemalan elections has been suspended

A court Guatemala On Wednesday, he disqualified the Semilla Party of Social Democratic candidate Bernardo Arevalo, who made a surprise first-round presidential run, effectively barring him from running in a runoff on Aug. 20.

“The Seventh Court of Criminal Procedure has ordered the suspension of the legal status of the political party Movimiento Semilla,” Rafael Krucic, head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office against Impunity (FECI), said in a video posted on social networks. Ineligibility.

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The judicial decision comes after parties that lost the first round of the June 25 presidential election filed legal appeals, delaying the announcement of Social Democrats Sandra Torres and Bernardo Arevalo as runoff candidates.

Special Prosecutor’s Report Against Conviction: pic.twitter.com/uEXU3UkZOK

— Guatemala MP (@MPguatemala) July 12, 2023

Karručić, a lawyer who has been sanctioned by Washington for harassing former prosecutors who have fought against corruption, justified the move on alleged irregularities in collecting signatures to legalize Semilla.

The US expressed its “deep concern” over questions about the July 2 elections Guatemala This led to the officialization of the results being put on hold until now.

On July 1, the country’s highest judicial body, the Constitutional Court (CC), ordered the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) to review the results at the request of several losing parties, which denounced irregularities.

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The comparison ended five days later and the results confirmed that the run-off on August 20 was between former First Lady Sandra Torres and sociologist Bernardo Arevalo, son of former reformist President Juan José Arevalo (1945–1951). However, candidates for the second round are yet to be announced.