Global Courant
The General Inspectorate of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) denounced in the Public Ministry (MP) the acts of violence registered during and after the 2023 general elections, with which it is sought that the Prosecutor’s Office identify the people who were involved in these events .
Recently, Irma Palencia, president of the TSE, revealed that, due to disagreement with the electoral results, in several regions of the country there were incidents in which damage was caused to infrastructure that was used as voting centers, burning ballots and electoral material and even threats against members of the Vote Receiving Boards.
He also said that one of his collaborators was missing.
In the metropolitan area there were incidents in Palencia, Chinautla, Villa Nueva, Amatitlán, San José del Golfo and San Pedro Ayampuc; In addition, in the province there was a conflict in Tactic and San Pedro Carcha, Alta Verapaz; San Martín Zapotitlán, El Tejar, Chimaltenango, among others.
However, there are reports that in at least 24 municipalities there have been from citizen demonstrations to the burning of ballot papers and threats against members of the temporary electoral bodies.
From that account, the TSE denounced the facts, as reported by the electoral body this Friday, June 30.
“A complaint will be filed by the TSE in the MP for all the facts and events that derive from the day of the elections and after them. It is necessary that the MP, despite the fact that as an investigative entity, they already have knowledge, since the TSE is making known the violent events that occurred as of June 25,” said Claudia Ardón, TSE Inspector.
He added that on June 29 the complaint was filed and “it will be time to coordinate all the other proceedings related to each particular case that were reported.”
It was reported that the complaint is for all the facts and events that derive from the day of the elections and after them and that it is against the people who were involved in them.
“It was presented yesterday and was sent to the Prosecutor’s Office against Electoral Crimes for the crime of disturbance of the electoral act,” said a source from the MP.
He added that “the facts raised at the national level are denounced; as well as the destruction of electoral material and voting centers”.
Other legal actions
The party that nominated Zury Ríos, daughter of the late former dictator Efraín Ríos Montt (1982-1983), for the Presidency of Guatemala, denounced this Friday a “fraud” in the Sunday elections, in which she came in sixth place.
“They have fabricated a fraud that definitely cannot remain anonymous, the people of Guatemala need to be respected,” said Jaime Hernández, a lawyer for the right-wing group Valor, after filing a complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office.
The litigant, who demanded “that the elections must be repeated,” indicated that they have as “evidence” videos and “more than a thousand electoral records that are totally altered, which means committing crimes of ideological falsehood with electoral aggravation.”
Those thousand tally sheets represent only 0.82% of the 121,227 processed (of the 122,293 in total) in the scrutiny, according to official figures.
On Sunday the general elections were held where Sandra Torres (15.86%) and Bernardo Arévalo (11.77%) were the most voted among 22 candidates, and they will go to a runoff on August 20.
The Electoral Observation Mission of the Organization of American States requested in a statement that “the electoral results expressed by the citizens be respected” on Sunday.
The mission reiterated that it “observed a satisfactory electoral day in which the citizens expressed their will.”
The official Vamos party, third in the presidential race (7.84%), although it did not denounce fraud, expressed its “concern over the evident finding of inconsistencies between the acts presented and the data computed in different polling stations” on Thursday. .
Meanwhile, Arévalo, in a press conference, rejected the alleged fraud and assured that “the same parties as always, frustrated and disappointed by their poor results in the first round, should not be allowed to muddy and question the free decision of thousands of Guatemalans.
With AFP information
