Guatemalan presidential candidate Bernardo Arevalo filed an appeal with Guatemala’s Supreme Court on Sunday, asking it to clear the way for a runoff election in August.
Arevalo, who came second in the first round of elections last month according to published results, said his party had filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court, asking it to annul the decision to suspend the validation of the June 25 elections.
Sandra Torres, another Social Democrat, came first, but several right-wing parties called for a review of the vote, alleging irregularities.
The Constitutional Court granted the review, drawing international condemnation from election observers and from the United States, the European Union and the Organization of American States, for the possible undermining of democracy.
The court-ordered review was completed Thursday and confirmed that Torres and Arevalo had placed first and second.
However, the Supreme Court of Justice, in a statement signed only by the president of the court, Silvia Valdes, ordered the electoral authorities not to validate the results yet.
Arevalo, in his motion, requested that the Supreme Court’s order be annulled and that a criminal investigation be opened against Valdes for possible “abuse of authority.”
On Saturday the deadline to challenge the results of the first round expired, and Torres also asked the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) to validate the result and pave the way for the second round.
“If we stick to the deadlines established by the Constitutional Court, today the Supreme Electoral Tribunal must make official the two parties that are going to the second round,” Torres said at a press conference.
Torres is the ex-wife of former president Alvaro Colom and Arevalo is the son of former reformist president Juan Jose Arevalo.
In the June 25 elections, Torres obtained 15.86 percent of the vote and Arevalo 11.77 percent, the highest totals among the 22 candidates.
If it reaches the second round, Guatemala would have its first president from the political left in more than a decade.
*With AFP; adapted from its original in English
Source: France 24
