Guatemala elects progressive Arévalo as President but there are legal moves to block him from office

Guatemala elects anti-corruption crusader Bernardo Arévalo as president in a reprimand to the governing elite. Preliminary results show Arévalo with 58% of the vote, while outgoing President Alejandro Giammattei congratulated him and said they would begin planning the transition.

A progressive from outside Guatemala’s power structure was resoundingly elected the country’s next president in a reprimand to the governing elite over widespread allegations of corruption.

Despite preliminary results Sunday showing a potential landslide for anti-corruption crusader Bernardo Arévalo, the attention immediately turned to whether he would be allowed to assume power as the Attorney General's Office attempts to suspend his party’s legal status.

With 100% of votes counted, preliminary results gave Arévalo 58% of the vote to 37% for former first lady Sandra Torres in her third bid for the presidency. The official results will still have to be certified.

“We know that there is a political persecution underway that is being carried out through the institutions and prosecutor’s offices and judges that have been corruptly co-opted,” Arévalo said Sunday night. “We want to think that the force of this victory is going to make it clear that there is no place for the attempts to derail the electoral process. The Guatemalan people have spoken forcefully.”

Arévalo said outgoing President Alejandro Giammattei congratulated him and told him that they would begin planning the transition the day after the results were certified.

Last month, an hour before the results from the first round of voting were certified, the Attorney General’s Office announced it was investigating the signatures gathered by Arévalo’s Seed Movement party to register years earlier. A judge briefly suspended the party’s legal status before a higher court intervened.

Eduardo Núñez, the Guatemala resident senior director for the National Democratic Institute, expected two trends to continue and intensify in the coming days: the country’s polarization and the judicialization of the electoral process.