The cessation of the legal life of the Seed Movement overshadowed the officialization of the results by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, with which the TSE itself had certified Arévalo de León’s victory at the polls shortly before, on August 20.
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The Supreme Electoral Tribunal of Guatemala provisionally suspended this Monday the political party Movimiento Semilla, with which the progressive Bernardo Arévalo de León won the Presidency on August 20.
The electoral body decided to suspend the legal figure of Semilla by a court order issued by criminal judge Fredy Orellana on July 12, for an alleged case of false signatures in 2018.
The suspension was confirmed to EFE by members of the Seed Movement, after being officially notified, pending a statement from the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.
Since last July 12, the Public Ministry (Prosecutor’s Office) had begun criminal prosecution against said party, after Arévalo de León, president-elect (2024-2028), surprisingly advanced to the ballot.
Until this Monday, the suspension of the party had been stopped by the Constitutional Court, the country’s highest court, for considering it illegal to suspend a party in full electoral contention.
Andrea Reyes, an elected deputy and member of Semilla’s legal team, explained to EFE that they still do not know “the scope of the resolution because it is not yet final.”
On July 13, the Citizens’ Registry, the entity in charge of party registration, had rejected the petition for cancellation against the party of the president-elect.
The Prosecutor’s Office had reacted with criminal actions against the registrar, Ramiro Muñoz, as well as against members of Semilla.
Before winning the presidency on August 20, Arévalo de León had assured the international media that he was not ruling out new attacks to prevent him from taking office on January 14.
At a press conference, the magistrates of the electoral court said they were not “aware” of the decision to suspend Semilla, ordered by one of its employees, the National Registrar of Citizens, Ramiro Muñoz.
The magistrates indicated that they were “sessioning” during the last hours and do not know the case officially.
Arévalo de León obtained 2.4 million votes in the second round and prevailed over his rival, former first lady Sandra Torres Casanova, of the National Unity of Hope, who won 1.5 million votes.
The magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal disengaged shortly after the order sent by one of its officials to suspend the Arévalo group.
EFE
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