Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei called on Tuesday for a democratic transition of power to anti-corruption campaigner and president-elect Bernardo Arevalo and his Seed Movement party, which has faced waves of legal attacks in attempts to invalidate his rise to power.
The president’s statement came after a night of political chaos in the Central American nation following one of its most tumultuous elections in recent history.
Bernado Arevalo was declared the winner of the country’s presidential elections, on the same day a government body suspended all activities by his Seed Movement party.
The progressive candidate was declared the winner of the election, one of the most tumultuous in the country’s recent history, by the top electoral tribunal.
But the prospect of him taking office as scheduled on January 14 is unclear after the party’s suspension by another government body.
Mr Arevalo and other opponents of the country’s elite faced judicial attacks but the little-known son of a former president emerged as a frontrunner after the first round of presidential voting in June.
He failed to win enough support to win outright, but according to the official count he won 60.9% of the valid votes cast in the runoff on August 20 against right wing candidate Sandra Torres, the former first lady.
His win has been the source of a legal back-and-forth between various governmental entities and courts, some staffed with officials that have been sanctioned by the United States on charges of corruption.
He has faced allegations of voter fraud by Ms Torres and legal challenges and more.
Earlier this week, the Organisation of American States’ human rights commission asked that Guatemala provide protection for Mr Arevalo after reports of a possible plot to kill him.
Monday’s party suspension came after Guatemala’s attorney general’s office opened an investigation into his Seed Movement for alleged irregularities in the gathering of signatures for its formation as a party.
Later on Tuesday the Seed Party appealed to the country’s top electoral authority to lift a suspension by a lower election agency, saying it was an illegal move aimed at thwarting the anti-corruption campaigner.
Arrest warrants for electoral officials and raids to the party’s headquarters, have caused concern in the international community and among Guatemalans.
The legal proceeding had been interrupted by an injunction of the Constitutional Court until the official declaration of results.
