Politics

Congresssman warned of attempt to stop Guatemala’s president-elect from taking power

Guatemala City, Nov 24 (EFE).- Member of Congress Julio Montano warned that the legal process against Guatemala’s electoral authorities is being used by powerful groups to undermine the Central American country’s 2023 election results.

“This is a game, and I think what they want is that Bernardo Arévalo doesn’t become president,” said Montano, who heads a legislative committee that is studying whether to lift the Supreme Court judge’s immunity from prosecution over alleged irregularities during this year’s elections.

The independent deputy Montano detailed that there are “powerful people” behind this goal, making the accusation during a public session Friday afternoon in the Guatemalan Legislature, after reporting that he has received threats in recent days.

The Prosecutor’s Office requested the removal of the electoral magistrates’ immunity for alleged irregularities in the acquisition of a digital system for the transmission of preliminary results used in the electoral events on June 25 and Aug. 20.

The process for deciding whether to investigate members of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal was “rigged,” added Deputy Montano.

Since July 12, the Prosecutor’s Office, led by María Consuelo Porras, has been trying to overturn the results of the elections and also to eliminate the Semilla Movement, the party of Bernardo Arévalo.

The President-elect has been publicly denouncing since Sept. 1 that Porras has been using the Public Prosecutor’s Office to carry out a “coup” in order to prevent him from taking office on Jan. 14.

Similarly, the Organization of American States reiterated this week its condemnation of the Prosecutor’s Office for “serious violations” of “democratic principles” with the new attempts to prevent the governmental transition in the Central American country. EFE

dte/dgp/ics

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