The Government of the United States has shown this Tuesday its rejection of the “unacceptable efforts” of the Public Ministry of Guatemala to suspend the political party Movimiento Semilla, winner of the elections, and of “privacy to the electoral authorities.”
The Secretary of the US Department of State, Antony Blinken, who has congratulated the president-elect of the Central American country, Bernardo Arévalo, has reiterated the concern of the Joe Biden Administration “over the continued actions of those who seek to undermine Guatemala’s democracy.”
“Such undemocratic behavior, including efforts by the Public Ministry and other actors to suspend the political party of the president-elect and intimidate electoral authorities, undermines the clear will of the Guatemalan people and is inconsistent with the principles of the Inter-American Democratic Charter,” it has stated he.
Blinken, who has expressed his support for the international community and the Guatemalan people, has celebrated that the voters have “made their voices heard” and has congratulated the officials and volunteers “whose dedication made these elections possible.”
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Guatemala announced on Monday the officialization of the results of the second electoral round for the Guatemalan Presidency, in which Arévalo, candidate of the Seed Movement, won by obtaining 60.9 percent of the votes against his rival , Sandra Torres, from the National Unity of Hope (UNE), who received 39.9 percent.
The results were released a few minutes after the TSE Citizen Registry provisionally suspended the legal personality of the Seed Movement, which has already requested an annulment appeal to reverse the decision.
The political formation National Unity of Hope (UNE), of the presidential candidate Sandra Torres, has branded as “illegal” the officialization of the electoral results in the face of the “rain of anomalies” detected. Torres, a former first lady, has so far not acknowledged her defeat.
Since Semilla achieved surprising results -compared to what the polls predicted– in the first round of elections, held on June 25, the Guatemalan Public Ministry has taken numerous actions to disable the results or outlaw political formation, actions which have been condemned by the international community.
