Guatemala’s electoral authority certified the results of last month’s vote for president, but a prosecutor stirred uncertainty about the upcoming runoff by alleging irregularities by one of the winners.
(Bloomberg) — Guatemala’s electoral authority certified the results of last month’s vote for president, but a prosecutor stirred uncertainty about the upcoming runoff by alleging irregularities by one of the winners.
Electoral agency chief Irma Palencia confirmed that former first lady Sandra Torres led the June 25 contest, with former diplomat Bernardo Arévalo, in second place, and that the pair will now face each other in an Aug. 20 runoff.
However, an hour before the announcement, a prosecutor from the Attorney General’s office, Rafael Curruchiche, said in a video on Twitter that he would pursue money laundering charges against Arévalo’s Movimiento Semilla political party. He said that, at his office’s request, a court ordered the suspension of Semilla’s legal personnel.
Palencia said she hadn’t been notified of the charges, and urged voters to remain calm.
“It concerns us because as a court, we know the election is won at the ballot box,” she said.
Read more: Arevalo Rejects Claims His Party Broke Guatemala Election Rules
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, 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.
Brian Nichols, US assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, said in a post on Twitter that the US welcomes the certification of the election results, but is deeply concerned by “new threats to Guatemala’s electoral democracy” from prosecutors.
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