A review of Guatemala’s June 25 presidential election, which had sparked international consternation over the possible undermining of democracy, has been completed, officials said Thursday.
In a surprise outcome, two social-democrats — Sandra Torres and Bernardo Arevalo — came out on top of last month’s first voting round. Opponents from nine right-wing parties had appealed the result to Guatemala’s constitutional court, alleging election irregularities.
The court then ordered the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), which oversees voting in Guatemala, to suspend the “officialization” of the results, prompting rebukes from election observers as well as the United States and European Union.
On Monday, the TSE said a review of polling records would start Tuesday at its operations center in Guatemala City, was observed that it was under heavy guard by police and soldiers.
A TSE official, who spoke under condition of anonymity, confirmed that the review had been completed on Thursday.
TSE president Irma Palencia, speaking to reporters later, would not say whether the review had been completed, but said her agency was “guaranteeing the custody of the vote, as well as transparent and efficient elections.”
She said that only “a very low percentage” difference had been found between the data disclosed last week by the TSE and the results of the review process.
The review must be finalized before winners of June’s election are officially announced. Several sources, including multiple parties that requested the review, said that the recount confirmed the initial outcome of Torres and Arevalo in first and second place, respectively.
Unless the outcome is overturned, they will compete in a runoff on August 20 — meaning Guatemala will have its first president from the political left in more than a decade.
Torres is the ex-wife of former president Alvaro Colom and Arevalo is the son reformist former president Juan Jose Arevalo. The US Department of State had said Sunday it was “deeply concerned” by the court ruling that suspended the election certification.
The Organization of American States had also expressed concern, saying there was “no reason” to suspect voter fraud, while the EU urged political parties to respect the will of the people.
On Wednesday, Guatemalan Indigenous leaders called for the results of the election to be respected, warning that they could “mobilize the population” if courts continued to intervene.
Indigenous people make up 42 percent of the 17.6 million Guatemalans.
