Elections in Guatemala: They approve veto for only indigenous woman but ex-dictator’s daughter can run

Constitutional Court Guatemala announced Thursday to maintain Refusal to register candidates of two opposition parties for the June presidential election. In contrast, it endorsed the registration of two other candidates whose policies aligned with the government were condemned as constitutionally barred.

The court decided to dismiss the appeals filed by the rejected parties seeking to reverse the Supreme Court’s decision to accept the preliminary refusals of the Registry of Citizens and the Supreme Election Tribunal.

He also rejected appeals by other political parties to drop the other two groups from contention. The court’s decisions are provisional until it is definitively resolved.

Guatemala will renew its president, vice president, congressional representatives, mayors, and representatives of the Central American Parliament that day. June 25 And, less than a month before the deadline for registering candidates, two parties withdraw from the electoral contest through the decision of the constitutional body, which has the last word. The presidential election is marked by Controversy As the election was called.

about this People’s Liberation Movement (MLP), a left-wing party founded by indigenous peoples and farmers, supports a pluralistic nation-state. Thelma Cabrera leading his pair The only tribal woman nominated For president and Jordan Rodas Andrade, a former human rights lawyer, is accompanying him as a candidate for vice president.

Ramiro MunozThe election registrar argued that it had initially refused to register the party’s nominations on administrative grounds. Rhodes Andrade There is no document confirming that he has no outstanding accounts with the government. So-called settlement is a requirement established in the Code of Conduct and Responsibilities of Public Officers and Employees.

However, the former prosecutor, a staunch critic of Alejandro Giamatte’s government, is not constitutionally barred (which imposes restrictions on access to that position) from running for office.

The other rejected party is Podemos, a right-wing trend that is promoting a presidential candidate Roberto Arzu Garcia Granados. His nomination was initially accepted by the Registrar of Citizens, but was challenged in the Supreme Election Tribunal. At least two candidates who received advance campaign warnings still maintain their registrations, but he withdrew his registration after claiming to have campaigned prematurely.

Nominations held by the Constitutional Court Zury Mayte Rios Sosa And Sandra Torres Casanova.

Ríos Sosa, the daughter of the dead former dictator José Efrain Ríos Montt, who was convicted – and later overturned – of genocide, is running for a coalition of far-right Hero-Unionista parties.

In its Article 186, the Guatemalan constitution prohibits warlords, coup leaders or the like and their relatives from running for president and vice president. Based on that restriction, Rios Sosa was barred from participating on previous occasions. However, for the next competition, it was one of the first registered candidates.

Sandra’s application Casanova TowersFormer First Lady (divorced from the late former President Alvaro Colomb Caballeros 2008-2012) and her Vice Presidential candidate, Romeo GuerraA former evangelical pastor running for the National Unity of Hope (UNE) party has been challenged by the constitutional ban as no minister of worship can run for the office of president or vice president.

Although the decision of their participation was challenged by the political parties Cabal and Dodos, both the Electoral Court and the Ordinary Justice – along with the decisions of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court – upheld their approval.

February 27, Human Rights Watch The International Human Rights Organization (HRW) warned that Cabrera’s registration was rejected for “suspicious reasons” and could “undermine the credibility of the elections”.

The 52-year-old tribal leader contested the election for the first time in 2019 and came fourth with 456,114 votes in his favour, or 10% of the total votes cast.

According to many analysts, Cabrera and Rodas are strong favorites in the presidential election, for which they have warned that the far right and some pro-corruption sectors in the Central American country will seek to avoid participation in the judiciary. In elections.

General elections in Guatemala will be held on June 25 for a new president, 160 legislators for Congress, 20 for the Central American Parliament and 340 municipal mayors for the 2024-2028 term.

(With information from EFE and AP)

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