The political party that won the presidential elections, Movimiento Semilla, is under investigation that keeps it suspended. But it is not the only political group targeted by the Public Ministry (MP).
A source from the Electoral Crimes Prosecutor’s Office, an entity attached to the Public Ministry, confirmed that there are investigations against four parties. Among these Let’s go for a different Guatemala, Will, Opportunity and Solitude (VOS), Cabal and My Family.
Of the groups investigated, Mi Familia has already been canceled by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE). He did not comply with the requirement of the Electoral and Political Parties Law, obtaining five percent of votes in the last elections and he did not obtain at least one deputation in the Congress of the Republic.
The rest of the parties maintain different opinions about the investigation process against them. But the alleged facts are similar to those raised against Semilla.
An investigation by the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Impunity (Feci) accuses Semilla of falsifying signatures and affiliating deceased people, one of the main requirements to establish itself as a political party.
The ruling party has defended itself in the national courts but the suspension against it remains active. The representative elected by Semilla, Andrea Reyes, who is also the party’s lawyer, said that the actions have not been resolved and that legal resources have been accumulated without being known since last December.
Among these are a reconsideration, an amparo action, a complaint and an unconstitutionality action. Legal actions that are in chambers of the Supreme Court of Justice and in the Constitutional Court (CC).
The Electoral Crimes Prosecutor’s Office does not give further details of the case against the four parties. But the groups assure that they are in the defense process.
The cases
Last week it was confirmed that the MP asked the highest entity in electoral matters for information about the Vamos party. The letter states that they want to know “exactly how it was established as a political party.”
Deputy Allan Rodríguez said that they are calm, but attributed the complaint to an attack by the current ruling party.
“They want to compare us to them, to say that we did the same thing as them to establish ourselves as a party. If they continue the investigation they will realize that the Vamos party was made up of leaders, that, yes, we have people and not deaths,” said the congressman.
The VOS party does not know where the accusations against them come from. But he believes that these are facts that had already been dispelled before the TSE.
“I know that during the electoral period there were two complaints. One in the TSE inspection and another in the MP. In them it was said that there were false signatures,” explained Carlos Besares, general secretary of VOS.
The case that was before the TSE authorities was dismissed. And now they would expect that the facts that are in charge of the MP will also be resolved.
“At the TSE we presented our exculpatory evidence and the case was dismissed. People came before the TSE to say that their wish was to join and that those were their signatures,” Basares stressed.
A source from the Cabal political party explained that the complaint against him comes from a former political collaborator, who has not ratified the complaint. “It was Víctor García Suyen who, despite the fact that the prosecution has summoned him since June 2023 on many occasions to ratify the complaint, has not appeared. He was a member of the provisional national executive committee for the constitution of the Cabal party.
The Cabal leadership says that it has collaborated with the MP’s investigations to resolve the doubts. He has presented documents and testimonial statements, although he has certain qualifiers when evaluating the investigations against him.
TSE error
The alleged facts that are now being handled by a prosecutor’s office should have been seen by the TSE itself. At least that is the reading held by Rubén Hidalgo, director of the Central American Institute of Political Studies (Incep).
“This error that we find at this point in the political system, parties that have already participated in more than one electoral event, saying that there are false signatures, is an example of the necessary reengineering and modernization that the TSE must undergo,” said the analyst.
Currently, the Electoral Update and Modernization Commission (CAME) operates, a body that will propose reforms to the electoral law, so this issue, in the opinion of the source, should be taken into account.
“It is not possible for the management of Political Organizations and the Citizen Registry to overlook errors or omissions of origin in the constitution of a party. These things must be found and corrected from the first moments,” he concluded.
They challenge processes
Recently the TSE reported that nine of the 11 political parties that must be canceled challenged the decision of the Citizen Registry. Issue that should be left in the hands of the Plenary Session of the TSE.
Those who challenged their cancellations are the PAN, Podemos, Republican Party, FCN -Nación, Humanista, Republican Union, Popular Party, PIN and Poder.
The only ones who accepted its cancellation were the MLP and Mi Familia, the latter, under investigation by the MP.
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