Supreme Court rejects Torres’ election bid

GUATEMALA CITY – Sandra Torres’ presidential candidacy encountered another setback after the Guatemalan Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday that tried to lift the ban prohibiting her from competing in Sept. 11 elections. The Supreme Court said it did not have jurisdiction over the case.

The former wife of President Álvaro Colom, who sought and received a divorce to skirt a law prohibiting spouses of outgoing presidents from seeking the presidency, says she still has other legal options. In late June, Guatemala’s Supreme Elections Tribunal (TSE) disqualified her bid (TT, June 30).

A full court ruling is expected by week’s end as The Tico Times goes to print.

Torres’ opponent, frontrunner Otto Pérez Molina of the Patriot Party, is gaining in polls. A poll on Tuesday showed that if elections were held this week, Pérez Molina, a retired military general, would win in one round of voting with the support of more than 44 percent of polled voters.

More than seven million Guatemalans will choose a new president and vice president, as well as 158 deputies, 333 mayors and 20 representatives to the Central American Parliament.

Torres’ last legal recourse is to appeal to the country’s highest court, the Constitutional Court, to allow her on the ballot.