GUATEMALA’S electoral tribunal yesterday urged the country’s highest court to intervene for free and fair presidential elections in August even as investigators raided the party headquarters of one of the candidates.

In a filing to the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) sought an order compelling the Attorney-General’s Office, police, army, courts and other state bodies to guarantee the integrity of the August 20 vote.

Central America’s most populous country has been rocked for weeks by legal actions targeting the Semilla (Seed) party of Bernardo Arevalo – one of the two presidential candidates to emerge from a first voting round on June 25.

This continued yesterday, with the anti-graft prosecutor’s office announcing a raid of Semilla’s headquarters in Guatemala City just hours after the TSE court application.

Dozens of party supporters protested outside – chanting slogans denouncing anti-corruption prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche as a “criminal” – as investigators from his office, backed by police, searched the premises. 

Arevalo decried the raid as “part of the political persecution by a corrupt minority that knows it is losing power day by day.”

Arevalo, the son of a reformist former president, finished second behind Sandra Torres, a former first lady, in the June first round.

Both are from social democratic parties, meaning that one way or another, Guatemala will have its first president from the left of the political spectrum in more than a decade.

But eight right-wing parties challenged the outcome of the first round, causing a delay in the declaration of the official results.

This was followed by a judge suspending Semilla’s status as a political party at Curruchiche’s request, prompting protests domestically and rebukes internationally over alleged election meddling.

‘Imminent threat’

Curruchiche is under US sanctions. He was appointed by Attorney-General Consuelo Porras who features on a US list of “corrupt actors,” accused of obstructing corruption investigations into her allies.

On the same list is Fredy Orellana, the judge who had ordered Semilla’s suspension over alleged irregularities in its registration as a party.

Arevalo and Semilla said they are being targeted because of the candidate’s unexpectedly good showing in the first election round, having featured at number eight in opinion polls.

His running mate Karin Herrera has since stated that Semilla was “a danger that they did not see coming.” 

In its filing yesterday, the TSE pointed to a “certain, future and imminent threat” that the country’s authorities “would violate the democratic rule of law” by failing to ensure the integrity of the election.

Curruchiche’s office said yesterday’s raid was conducted in furtherance of its ongoing investigation into Semilla.

On Wednesday, the authorities issued an arrest warrant against a senior Semilla member, and on Thursday prosecutors conducted a surprise raid on the TSE.

Orellana ordered the arrest of senior official Eleonora Castillo for failing to carry out his order to disqualify Semilla.

The country of 17.6 million is one of Latin America’s poorest, with high rates of violent crime.

Rights groups have increasingly expressed concern over what they say are efforts to crack down on prosecutors and journalists in an apparent bid by the government to protect a corrupt system benefiting those in power. – AFP, July 22, 2023.