The Supreme Electoral Court is keeping alive the Semilla movement, the party with which the progressive Bernardo Arévalo de León won the presidential elections in Guatemala on August 20. Semilla, who advocates the rejection of corruption and promises a “new democratic spring”. The party is at risk of dissolution because it made it to the second round and became the political option to challenge the traditional parties for power. The president-elect has denounced the move as an attempted institutional “coup” to prevent him from assuming the presidency in January 2024.
This Sunday, the Supreme Electoral Court informed the Semilla movement that it was suspending the decision of the Citizens’ Register that temporarily revoked the party’s legal status. The court’s decision is in response to an annulment action filed by Semilla to lift the suspension imposed on the firm on August 28, a week after Arévalo’s victory and on the same day that the positions of president and vice president were awarded , imposed.
The party argued in court that the registrar’s decision was unlawful because it was issued when the electoral process was still ongoing and because the cancellation of a match was an exclusive responsibility of the electoral authorities. “It is essential to emphasize that the court order confirms that the party has its current legal personality,” explains lawyer Edgar Ortiz to EL PAÍS.
With its decision, the court deactivates Semilla’s suspension until October 31, when the electoral process is completed, but does not examine whether a criminal judge can order the dissolution of a political party on the grounds that the court order is “not an original order” of the Electoral committee nor was it issued during the elections.
The court “does not evaluate or rule on the core of the issue, which is not just the deadline within which a game can or cannot be canceled,” Ortiz says. “The key point is whether a criminal judge’s office can order suspensions, and on that question the court says it does not have the resources or time to discuss it, leaving the question open for later,” the lawyer added.
Thus, the future of the Semilla movement could be determined by the Constitutional Court, which will consider an appeal by the party against the decision of an appeal chamber confirming the criminal judge’s interference in the exclusive functions of the electoral court.
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Another important point of the decision that the court announced today is that the firm “limited itself to compliance with a judicial order.” However, they add that “for reasons of security and legal certainty” they must decide “on which occasion the registrar would have to comply with the criminal judge’s order”. Ortiz interprets that this consideration shows the pressure that election officials have been under, as the director of the register of citizens, Ramiro Muñoz, faces a request for a preliminary hearing and could be prosecuted for disobedience of a judicial order.
“It is regrettable that the court recognizes that the register complies with something that cannot be complied with, since Article 92 of the Elections and Political Parties Law clearly establishes the dates at which a political party may or may not be suspended (until …). “It shows the pressure they were under and why they gave in in the end,” adds Ortiz.
The court’s decision came on Saturday amid a day of protests in the streets in support of elected President Bernardo Arévalo and demanding the resignation of Attorney General Consuelo Porras, who was appointed leader of the party by the couple’s elected plan. Coup plotter to prevent his inauguration.
The coup is progressing
The suspension of the register complied with the order of the criminal judge Fredy Orellana at the request of the prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche on July 12, when the electoral court officially announced the results of the first round and confirmed that the runoff would be disputed between the sociologist Bernardo Arévalo, the candidate of the Semilla Movement, and former First Lady Sandra Torres Casanova of the National Unity of Hope.
Curruchiche, Orellana and the Attorney General were identified by President-elect Bernardo Arévalo as those responsible for the coup, which was “led by the institutions that should guarantee justice in our country, led by the Attorney General Consuelo Porras.” the prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche and the criminal judge Fredy Orellana, as well as the executive board of the Congress of the Republic and other corrupt and undemocratic actors.”
Arévalo’s actions, which he announced to the population on September 1, are linked to a criminal investigation that was reactivated by the prosecutor’s office in charge of Curruchiche, just as the Semilla movement advanced to the second presidential round. The public prosecutor’s office, which prosecutes former anti-corruption justice employees and journalists, assures that Semilla was founded with false signatures, but in more than 25 cases it prevented the party’s lawyers from seeing the files to defend themselves against the accusations. The movement’s leaders assured that the investigations were the instrument of political persecution to dissolve the party.
Several analysts believe that the dissolution of the Semilla movement would weaken the Arévalo government, as the 23 deputies elected by this party would not be able to join the legislative commissions or the congressional executive board.
As long as the party’s suspension is on hold, “the sword of Damocles remains raised and sharp,” says political scientist Luis Mack. The purpose of the so-called coup attempt “at the moment is not to overthrow the government, but to deprive the party of its legitimacy by talking about false signatures, it is to incite fear and paralyze any attempts at change, and by the way “to see if they interfere with the inauguration,” concludes Mack.
Finally, in the resolution that keeps the Semilla movement alive, the Supreme Electoral Court calls on the powers of the State to “continue to ensure respect for the will of the people expressed in the elections” and “to guarantee the transition of power by respecting the agreements they have reached “. such as the awarding of positions to Bernardo Arévalo and Karin Herrera as President and Vice President.”
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