This past weekend, Guatemala’s Constitutional Court paused the certification of its recent election results after 10 political parties disputed the outcome and called for a review of the returns. It’s an unprecedented move that could potentially spur a recount, and one that further undercuts the country’s tenuous democracy ahead of an anticipated runoff in August.
There were already questions about the legitimacy of Guatemala’s June 25 elections for the presidency, legislature, and local mayoral seats after multiple candidates — including those who’ve been critical of lawmakers currently in power — were prevented from participating. In the end, no candidate, in a crowded field of 29, won an outright majority to secure the presidency.
As a result, the top two finishers — the former first lady Sandra Torres, who received 15.8 percent support, and the center-left Bernardo Arévalo, who received 11.7 percent support — are scheduled to go up against one another in a runoff on August 20. Arévalo, who is running on an anti-corruption message, was a surprise success, while Torres, who is viewed as more closely aligned with the status quo, was more of an expected victor.
More than 17 percent of ballots were left blank, many in protest, which led to concerns that neither Arévalo nor Torres was the candidate Guatemalans actually wanted. Amid that uncertainty, multiple parties, including Torres’s, challenged the validity of the results and alleged possible irregularities. In response, the court paused the approval of the results and ordered a review that will examine if local polling counts align with those that were reported to the federal system.
It’s a maneuver the court has never used before at this stage of an election, and it’s one that many political observers view as discounting the will of the people. The votes have all been tallied, and the Court was expected to fulfill its largely symbolic, legally mandated role in the…
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