The Guatemalan Prosecutor's Office carries out an "attempted coup d'état" against the elected president

The Public Ministry (Prosecutor's Office) of Guatemala carried out this Friday an “attempted coup d'état”, as the Organization of American States (OAS) has called it, against the elected president, Bernardo Arévalo de León, to prevent him from taking office. Next January 14th.

In a conference led by the Secretary of the Public Ministry, Ángel Pineda, sanctioned by the United States on charges of corruption, the Prosecutor's Office disclosed several alleged criminal cases against Arévalo de León and also against the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

Derived from one of these cases, the Public Ministry argued that the results of the general elections of June 25 and the runoff of August 20, won surprisingly by Arévalo de León, who obtained 58% of the votes counted, should be annulled..

The alleged invalidation of the electoral results was presented by prosecutor Leonor Morales who said in a press conference that the elections for president, deputies, mayors and deputies to the Central American Parliament must be annulled.

Morales argued that there is an administrative irregularity, since the electoral records used are not those originally approved by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

“The formats used were not those approved by the plenary session of magistrates,” said Morales, who added that the votes “are null and void.”

The lawyer and elected representative of the Semilla Movement, Andrea Reyes Zeceña, warned on her social networks that the Public Ministry “does not have any authority” to declare the elections null and void.

Similarly, the Prosecutor's Office also accused Arévalo de León of alleged illegalities in the formation of his party in 2018, in addition to an alleged case of money laundering of around $40,000..

Arévalo de León, who warned last September 1 that the attorney general, Consuelo Porras, is carrying out a “coup d'état” against him to prevent him from taking office next January, called a press conference for this Friday.

Since July 12, the leadership of the Guatemalan Public Ministry, sanctioned by the United States under accusations of corruption, has tried to reverse the electoral victory of Arévalo de León, despite the fact that the law does not allow it to interfere in the electoral results.

Opposition of the electoral court

Minutes after the Prosecutor's Office's presentation, the Supreme Electoral Court guaranteed the victory of Arévalo de León and also the results of the elections.

The president of the electoral court, Blanca Alfaro, indicated in a press conference that the results are signed and certified, although she also pointed out that a different ruling from the Constitutional Court, the country's highest court, could annul her decision.

“If they do not take office, I reiterate, there would be a breakdown of the institutional order,” said Alfaro in reference to the possibility that the elections will be annulled and Arévalo de León will not be sworn in on January 14, as established in Guatemalan law.

“There is absolutely no time for us to in any way repeat any election,” added the president of the Guatemalan Supreme Electoral Tribunal.

Alfaro explained that the Public Ministry has the right to carry out “investigations”, but that they do not imply their annulment and also defended the transparency of the electoral process.

Following the accusations from the Prosecutor's Office, the OAS condemned in a statement the “attempted coup d'état” orchestrated by the Public Ministry against Arévalo de León.

This same week, the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, was in Guatemala to witness, for the second time, the electoral transition process, in an event in the company of the vice president-elect, Karin Herrera, and the current president, Alejandro Giammattei.

Arévalo de León must be sworn in on January 14, according to Guatemalan law, for a period of four years to replace Giammattei.

Sánchez condemns him

The President of the Government of Spain, Pedro Sánchez, for his part, has expressed his “most absolute rejection” of the actions of the Public Ministry (Prosecutor's Office) of Guatemala against the elections won by Bernardo Arévalo de León, for whom he has expressed his support.

“I want to show my most absolute rejection of the actions of the Public Ministry of Guatemala that threaten democracy and the will of the citizens expressed at the polls,” Sánchez published in a message on the social network X.

The Spanish president added: “My support for the president-elect, Bernardo Arévalo de León. “Democracy must prevail.”