Global Courant
Not very decent and very arrogant was the attitude of the prosecutor of the ruling party, former Undersecretary of the Presidency and former Vice Minister of Communications, Héctor Aldana, when he yelled that the ballot boxes should be opened yesterday during the first hearing to review the results, an eminently citizen activity office of the electoral boards, in the presence of prosecutors from all party organizations, observers and the national and international press. But even more indecorous, inconsiderate and disrespectful is the insistence of the Cambio party, of Manuel Baldizón, who filed a legal appeal before the Supreme Court of Justice to force the counting of votes and ballots, a cunning ruse that should be discarded in limine.
The results review hearings began yesterday and the process will continue today, ordered by the Constitutional Court in the strange provisional protection, received on Friday and resolved on Saturday, with the votes of magistrates Roberto Molina Barreto, Dina Ochoa , Héctor Hugo Pérez Aguilera, Claudia Paniagua and Leyla Lemus, former Secretary General of the Presidency and who worked there with the now prosecutor Aldana.
The appeal for enforcement before the CSJ to force a vote count raised by the Baldizón party, on behalf of three other groups, is perverse and only seeks to hinder the officialization of the first round results. Given their dismal election results—something no review would change—they seem willing to serve as lackeys for other interests. The appeal should go to the CC, but it delegated the follow-up of the unofficial provisional amparo to the Supreme Court of Justice, which had never heard of the case and the request.
In the online transmissions it is evident that there are no major anomalies, that the members of the boards are willing to review the minutes and for today the presence of computer experts from the parties is expected to audit the transmission of data. This transparency makes obvious the impertinence, the conflict of interest and the rancor towards democracy on the part of Baldizón, a failed candidate for deputy for such a group, whose registration was rejected because he was ex-convicted in the United States for asset laundering and who is linked to the Odebrecht and Transurbano corruption cases. He was released under house arrest in January after paying a bond of Q1.8 million that the Public Ministry was lax enough not to appeal.
Little by little the perverse intention of trying to undermine one of the most solid, reliable and fundamental elements of the democratic processes is perceived: attacking the honor, credibility and high efficiency of the Electoral Boards and Vote Receiving Boards, made up of citizens who volunteer their time, effort and integrity in order to guarantee clean elections.
The plenary session of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal must come out to defend the juntas and put the parties in their place, subject to their authority. Until now, the magistrates have maintained a timorous silence that must be broken now, to defend the citizens from all insults, accusations and disrespectful conduct such as the one mentioned at the beginning. Several parties have distanced themselves from the official pretense, but not all. They must be careful not to become accessories, by action and, even worse, by omission, of a disastrous attack against the will of the people of Guatemala already expressed at the polls.
