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On Wednesday progressive presidential runoff candidate Bernardo Arevalo was suspended by the country’s anti-graft prosecutor. The man, who is under US sanctions, had alleged document fraud.
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Guatemala’s highest court issued a temporary injunction Thursday blocking the controversial suspension of presidential runoff candidate Bernardo Arevalo’s political party.
The suspension of the Semilla (Seed) party on Wednesday by a lower court was the latest legal challenge to Guatemala’s presidential first round vote last month and prompted more international concern over perceived interference.
After the Constitutional Court issued a dry, terse order blocking the suspension, Semilla welcomed the move. The party said the lower court had “violated the electoral process” and that the higher court “preventively granted the protection” that the party requested Wednesday night.
Arevalo finished second behind Sandra Torres in the 25 June election. The two are scheduled to compete in a runoff on 20 August to become leader of a country beset by poverty, corruption and gang violence.
As both are from social democratic parties, the contest would yield the Central American country’s first leftist president in more than a decade.
But a court on Wednesday granted a request for suspension of the Semilla party brought by Guatemala’s special anti-graft prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche, who is under US sanctions. Curruchiche’s office claimed thousands of people were illegally registered as Semilla party member, “through falsification of documents.”
Protests and rebukes
The ruling against Semilla sparked protests in the capital and stern rebukes internationally, including from the United Nations, United States and European Union.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “notes with concern reports of attempts to impact the second round of elections, and the growing…
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