Green light for election campaign in Guatemala

Nineteen groups of left, center and right, with IDs already in hand, will try to win 340 municipal bodies, 160 seats in Congress and 20 in the Central American Parliament, as two are still already registered but without the card confirming them to officially enter the sweepstakes to participate.

protest poster

The streets of this capital and the departments showed this Monday the beginning of the second phase of the electoral process, since after a first phase marked by controversy related to the rejection of two presidential binomials, they almost woke up to propaganda the movimiento for the liberation of the Peoples (MLP) and that of Podemos.

In the case of the MLP, a Supreme Court hearing is taking place today to demand the registration of Thelma Cabrera and Jordán Rodas after an intense court case; however, according to the law, the deadline for formalizing the applicants for more than four thousand public positions expired yesterday.

The struggle for the presidency and vice-presidency of the republic between the 21 binomials with the green light by the Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) Citizens’ Register will be intense; two parties are in the alliance (Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemala-Maiz and Winaq, the only one on the left at the moment) and Valor and Unionista.

woman on the podium

Only two women aspire to the highest judiciary, Zury Ríos (Valor-Unionista) and Sandra Torres (National Unity of Hope), faces well known to Guatemalans.

In the case of the former, the Constitutional Court (CC) finally rejected her candidacy in 2019, but she took part in 2015.

The daughter of ex-coup leader Efraín Ríos Mont was now among the most criticized as the constitution forbids direct relatives from aspiring to the post; However, after overcoming several challenges before the Supreme Court and the CC, his entry into the competition was firm and he leads the polls’ intent, according to polls.

In a joint message on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, Zury launched the campaign with a video aimed at the people, saying that “it is time Guatemala had an honest, courageous government for all people”.

As a first act, he announced that his government plan was “the result of years of listening to the people of Guatemala, their demands, what hurts us, what moves us”.

Exactly

Second in the polls is the indefatigable Torres as this would be her third time after being left out in the second round against Jimmy Morales (2016-2020) and Alejandro Giammattei (2019-2024).

Another who took advantage of social media was Cabal Party candidate Edmon Mulet, who posted a video with the hashtag #Let’s DoTheRight at exactly midnight.

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