Arevalo’s Party Canceled!
Guatemala City, Nov 28 (EFE).-
Guatemalan judge Fredy Orellana on Thursday ordered the Supreme Electoral Tribunal to cancel the party of President Bernardo Arévalo, the Seed Movement, for alleged anomalies.
According to the prosecutor in charge of the case, Rafael Curruchiche, the judge’s request is based on the testimony of former congresswoman and current government official Ligia Hernández.
Hernández accepted the charge of unregistered electoral financing after spending 90 days in preventive detention in a case denounced as judicial persecution.
She announced her decision in a statement, maintaining her innocence and saying she was doing so to protect her family and health.
The charges against Hernández have not been made public, as Orellana has kept the legal process under wraps.
Thursday’s order came two days after the ruling party succeeded in Congress in reforming the Organised Crime Law to limit the court’s power to cancel political movements.
“A judge cannot suspend or cancel a political party,” pro-government deputy Samuel Pérez told local journalists after learning of Judge Orellana’s decision.
“With the reform we have approved, we have enough tools to recover the party and the rights of the bench; now the one who will have to answer for his illegal actions is Judge Orellana,” Pérez added.
The Seed Movement was suspended by a criminal judge in August 2023, despite the Supreme Electoral Tribunal being the only court that can suspend a political party, according to the Guatemalan Constitution.
In April, Guatemala’s Constitutional Court, the highest in the Central American country, ruled definitively that the deputies of the official party, the Seed Movement, must remain independent legislators due to the suspension.
The Seed Movement won 23 out of 160 seats in the 2023 elections, preaching the fight against corruption as its main campaign banner.
Several party members, including Arévalo, have been persecuted by the Attorney General’s Office since winning the 2023 presidential election.
Attorney General Consuelo Porras, Curruchiche and Orellana have been sanctioned for corruption by the United States and the European Union, which consider their actions “anti-democratic”. EFE
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