Guatemalan Prosecutor's Office concluded registration of electoral boxes

Havana, Sept 15 (RHC) The Special Prosecutor's Office Against Impunity confirmed this Thursday the end of the questioned raid, inspection, registration and seizure of evidence in boxes from the elections of June 25 in Guatemala.

In the Operations Center of the Electoral Process, located in the capital's Parque de la Industria, the operation allowed the opening of 60 of those containers with registers and ballots, according to the head of that body, Rafael Curruchiche.

“We proceeded to verify what documents were inside said boxes,” said the representative of the Public Ministry (MP), adding that at the end of the proceedings the legal and information departments of the TSE were present.

The same evidence remains in the possession of the governing body of the voting process for its corresponding safeguard, Curruchiche explained. He denied the allegations from different sectors in relation to the violation of the confidentiality of the Guatemalan vote.

The actions led by the head of the Special Prosecutor's Office Against Impunity began last Tuesday in the offices of the Citizen Registry and in these warehouses that the electoral body installed to safeguard the information.

The MP described that the investigation arose after a complaint filed by a citizen and prosecutors were looking for evidence in the boxes with the ballots.

Given the raids, the country's elected president, Bernardo Arévalo, demanded the immediate resignation of Attorney General Consuelo Porras, Curruchiche, and the seventh criminal judge, Fredy Orellana.

Due to the situation, he temporarily suspended participation in the administrative process of government transition, “while the necessary institutional conditions are reestablished,” emphasized the current deputy.

The Semilla party, winner of the votes, the TSE and other organizations presented protections to the Constitutional Court to stop the judicial operation.

Local and international entities agree in describing these maneuvers as violating the Electoral and Political Parties Law and ask for respect for Guatemala's democracy. (Source: PL)