Guatemala: New Raids at the Supreme Electoral Tribunal

The Public Prosecutor's Office raided on Friday for the fourth time the headquarters of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. A similar diligence, weeks ago, caused the president-elect to temporarily suspend the meetings for the transfer of power.

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"The Public Ministry, through the Special Prosecutor's Office against Impunity develops diligence of search at the headquarters of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal", informed the institution in the social network X.

According to the spokesperson of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the prosecutors requested information on the electoral records of the first and second round of elections.

This is the fourth raid carried out by the Prosecutor's Office to the headquarters of the electoral tribunal in the last two months for alleged anomalies in the electoral process, where Arevalo was elected.

The tweet reads, "The Supreme Electoral Tribunal strongly condemns the ongoing raid to its facilities by the Public Prosecutor's Office. The TSE also calls on the CC to comply with its essential function of guaranteeing constitutional order."

The presiding magistrate of the Tribunal, Irma Palencia, expressed her rejection to the continuous raids and seizure of documentation. She denounced that "this violates the chain of custody of the electoral results, we can give copies, certify them, but they are the only documents that have the results."

Prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche refused to give details of the case because it is under reserve, and denied that the raid is related to Arevalo or the leaders of his party, the center-left Sead Movement.

The Special Prosecutor's Office against Impunity raided on September 12 the headquarters of the Registry of Citizens of the Court and of COPE, where it opened ballot boxes which were in custody, despite the fact that the Electoral and Political Parties Law prohibits it.

Persecution by the Public Prosecutor's Office

Arevalo, who won the Presidency of the country last August 20 with 2.5 million votes, has denounced on several occasions the persecution of the Guatemalan Public Prosecutor's Office, which is leading an attempt of "coup d'état" to prevent him from taking office on January 14.

Since the beginning of July, the Public Prosecutor's Office announced an investigation against the Seed Movement for alleged forgery, and tried on several occasions to revoke the legal status of said party.

After the temporary suspension of the meetings for the transfer of power, the president of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, announced that he will accept the methodology proposed by Arevalo to resume the transition process, and guarantee the inauguration on January 14.