The struggle to certify the results of Guatemala’s first-round presidential election suffered what experts called another setback Saturday after the chief justice of the Supreme Court issued an order blocking the certification.
Chief Justice Silvia Valdés Quezada issued the unusual order late Friday. She stipulated the process could not go forward until the electoral authorities who conducted a review of precinct vote tally sheets from the June 25 election reported back to her on their methods and any inconsistencies found.
Valdés Quezada said they had to do that within 12 hours.
The electoral observers’ mission from the Organization of American States said in a statement Saturday that it was concerned by “the attempt to continue judicializing the electoral process.”
The OAS group said the tally sheet review “was done in a satisfactory manner, complying with the principles of maximum transparency and public access.”
Experts said Valdés Quezada’s order was strange because she was the only justice to sign it. According to normal procedure, it should have been signed by all 13 justices.
“She alone is suspending the electoral process,” said constitutional lawyer Alejandro Balsells.
Ovidio Orellana, the former head of Guatemala’s bar association, wrote in his social media accounts that such an order “should be signed by all the magistrates.”
If candidates Sandra Torres and upstart Bernardo Arévalo remain the two highest vote-getters in the re-examination, it will boost the likelihood that their one-two finish in the first round will stand and that the two candidates will head to a run-off election Aug. 20.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal said in a statement Friday that the review “confirms the preliminary results published on June 25,” and urged political parties “to accept with maturity the election results, which represent the legitimate will of the people.”
The matter now lies with the Supreme Court of Justice, which the Constitutional Court designated to handle the case.
