Global Courant 2023-04-29 11:06:29
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal must immediately amend one of the most serious errors that it could be committing to the detriment of the citizen’s right to choose with full conscience: authorizing ballot papers for deputies omitting the list of names of candidates. This is an irresponsible measure approved with a favorable vote by 16 political parties in contention that thus betray any offer of honesty, transparency and responsibility that they are making to the population.
Never before in the democratic history of Guatemala had there been a Supreme Electoral Tribunal so fickle to the whims of political organizations, so contradictory with respect to the application of the rules for registering candidates, and so weak in defending the legitimate interests of the citizenry. Pretexts of space argued the parties that voted in favor of hiding, hiding, covering up, covering up, keeping quiet or masking the names of their candidates for deputies on the ballot papers. They want only the logos of their groups to appear, and behind this desire is the attempt to favor contested candidates, because they are defectors, because they are on trial, because they are ex-functionaries of dubious efficiency or because they are relatives of leaders, congressmen or contractors.
“Only the symbols of the parties will appear, ignoring the names of the candidates,” states the TSE statement on the April 27 session. The gerund of the verb “to ignore” contained in the statement denotes the deviousness of such a measure. Its definition in the Dictionary of the Language is: “Avoid, avoid, separate and remove obstacles or inconveniences”. Clarity only hinders politicians who intend to deceive.
It is assumed and expected that the TSE is guided by a principle of service to the citizenry, aimed at guaranteeing a free, well-informed vote; a conscious decision, a well-founded personal selection. The inclusion of the names of candidates is not an ornamental detail or a concession to the taste of the parties or magistrates: it is a constitutional obligation of the latter because their mission is to guarantee the full expression of the voter’s will. Forcing citizens to vote blindly, for spurious reasons, almost borders on illegality.
It is not the first time that the TSE hides behind “democratic” criteria to leave decisions that correspond to its jurisdiction of collegiate authority in the hands of the parties. Perhaps those errors are due to having a former minister of the past government or a former vice-presidential candidate from the last election among its members; Perhaps it is because it has among its members two lawyers with false doctorates, cases in which the Prosecutor’s Office has not lifted a finger. At the beginning of the campaign they wanted to exclude the press from the sessions by decision of the parties and they had to rectify for the good of all.
If the congressmen are representatives of the people, then the people need to have in front of them the names of those to whom they will or will not delegate their will. One of the strongest and clearest demands in the electoral reforms was the elimination of national and district lists to start voting for specific names. This would end the business of selling seats and the partisan abuse of placing relatives in the first boxes. Now the TSE comes and takes away from the citizens the only small window they had to know who they are voting for. They must correct the error now or go down in history with it in tow.
TSE obviates duties by endorsing blind voting
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