One Guatemalan presidential candidate suspended her campaign while the other called for protests after prosecutors raided the nation’s electoral authority on Thursday.
(Bloomberg) — One Guatemalan presidential candidate suspended her campaign while the other called for protests after prosecutors raided the nation’s electoral authority on Thursday.
A day after the US government warned that the nation’s democracy is under threat, the Attorney General’s office extended its investigation into one of the two parties contesting the presidential runoff. Prosecutors said via Twitter that its agents are collecting evidence from the voter registry.
The raid adds to uncertainty over the upcoming Aug. 20 vote. Irma Palencia, the head of the electoral authority, told local radio station Emisoras Unidas that she was “surprised and worried” by the raid.
The electoral authority on Wednesday certified the results of the June 25 vote for president, and confirmed that former first lady Sandra Torres would face former diplomat Bernardo Arévalo next month.
But a prosecutor stirred uncertainty about the runoff by alleging irregularities by Arévalo’s party Semilla.
Read more: Guatemala Confirms Election Result as Prosecutors Stoke Doubts
The prosecutor, Rafael Curruchiche, said Semilla falsified signatures on paperwork when registering as a party in 2018, and that his office found signs of as many as 5,000 fake signatures. He said Semilla paid fines for some of the falsified signatures this year, but did not report where the money to pay the fines came from, which he said constitutes money laundering.
Arévalo called for protests on Thursday in front of the Attorney General’s Office and said he will file a formal complaint with prosecutors over their behaviour. Torres said Thursday she is suspending her campaign in solidarity with Arévalo.
Threats to Democracy
On Wednesday, Brian Nichols, US assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said Washington is “deeply concerned” by “new threats to Guatemala’s electoral democracy” from prosecutors.
Arévalo, who campaigned against corruption, defied polls to unexpectedly win a place in the second round. He has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, and says the nation’s traditional political class is conspiring to keep him out of office.
A lobby group representing the nation’s business leaders, CACIF, called on the government to respect the election results and cited an election law which prohibits the banning of a political party when an election is in progress.
The nation’s dollar bonds due 2033 were little changed amid the turmoil, gaining 0.1 cent to 80.97 cents on the dollar.
–With assistance from Andrea Jaramillo.
(Adds comments from candidates in seventh paragraph)
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