The election of the new president of the Guatemalan Congress will take place again and It will not have representatives from President Bernardo Arévalo de León's party to comply with a ruling from the country's highest court, the Constitutional Court..
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This was announced this Thursday by the deputy and president of Congress, Samuel Pérez Álvarez, who will give up his position for the new election, the date of which has not been established.
(You can read: The US sanctions the former president of Guatemala Alejandro Giammattei for corruption)
The decision is due to a ruling released on Wednesday by the Constitutional Court that ratifies a criminal suspension against the party of Arévalo de León and Pérez Álvarez, the Semilla Movement.
“We are not going to enter into a 'trick' battle. The Constitutional Court will not agree with us, even if we are right, because its objective is to attack popular sovereignty,” Pérez Álvarez said at a press conference.
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The suspension ratified by the Constitutional Court against the Semilla Movement leaves its 23 deputies as independent and without the possibility of being part of the board of directors.
We are not going to enter into a 'rigged' battle. The Constitutional Court will not agree with us, even if we have it, because its objective is to attack popular sovereignty.
In the same sense, the decision of the Constitutional Court is of great importance for the Central American country, since, according to various sources, In Congress, a dismissal of the attorney general and head of the Public Ministry (Prosecutor's Office), Consuelo Porras, could be engineered, accused of trying to carry out a “coup d'état” against Arévalo de León.
“We are going to step aside from our two spaces on the board of directors to protect the governability of the country and promote the legislative agenda, maintaining the agreements reached with the majority that we have built in Congress,” Pérez Álvarez added.
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In addition to the president of Congress, Nor will one of the spokespersons of the board of directors, Andrea Villagrán, also from the Semilla Movement, be re-elected..
Annulled election process
This Wednesday, the Constitutional Court provisionally accepted vseveral legal appeals against the election of the new board of directors of Congress, chaired by Pérez Álvarez, a member of the ruling party.
The court indicated in a statement that it upheld an appeal presented by Representative Sandra Jovel, who lost the election for the presidency of Congress on Sunday and who claims that the deputies of the official group, the Semilla Movement, are legally suspended.
Pérez Álvarez won the election with a total of 92 votes out of the 160 seats that make up the Guatemalan Parliament, which took office on the same Sunday.
(You can read: Guatemala: why was President Bernardo Arévalo's inauguration delayed more than 10 hours?)
The triumph of the Semilla Movement deputy, the same as the recently inaugurated president, Bernardo Arévalo de León, came as a surprise since the group only has 23 deputies.
The losing ticket, which only got 75 votes, was that of the deputy Jovel, of the Valor party, of the former presidential candidate Zury Ríos, and allied with the political group Vamos, of the now former president Alejandro Giammattei (2020-2024), sanctioned by the United States. United this Wednesday under accusations of corruption.
According to Jovel, The suspension of the Semilla Movement deputies arises from a criminal order dated July 12, issued by Judge Fredy Orellana, accused by the United States Department of State of undermining justice and corruption.
The criminal case in charge of Orellana is due to an alleged crime of false signatures in the founding of the Semilla Movement in 2018, which Arévalo de León himself reported in the first half of 2023.
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Since Arévalo de León obtained second place in the first round of the presidential elections in June 2023, the Public Ministry (Prosecutor's Office) of Guatemala and groups allied to Giammattei began a judicial persecution to prevent the 65-year-old academic from taking office, as well as against the deputies of the Semilla Movement.
The new election of the Congressional board of directors could take place in the coming days.
EFE
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