The European Union welcomes the Supreme Electoral Tribunal’s officialisation of the results of the Presidential election in Guatemala that took place on 20 August. This announcement by the country’s highest electoral authorities confirms the clear victory of President-elect Mr Bernardo Arévalo.

At the same time, the EU is deeply concerned over persistent attempts to undermine the election results through selective and arbitrary legal and procedural actions that are not in line with international and regional standards Guatemala has subscribed to, most recently the provisional suspension of political party Semilla ordered on 28 August.

The EU calls on all Guatemalan political parties, branches of government and institutions to fully respect the integrity of the electoral process and its outcome as clearly expressed by Guatemalan citizens at the ballot box.

The EU remains fully committed to support democracy in Guatemala, as reflected in the deployment of the EU Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) following an invitation by the Guatemalan authorities. The EU EOM concluded that despite judicial actions attempting to disrupt the electoral process, election day on 20 August was peaceful and well-organised and the results are clear.   

Beyond the electoral process, the EU is also troubled by the apparent instrumentalisation of Guatemalan judicial and prosecutorial institutions, as seen also in continuing actions that seek to criminalise independent judicial operators.  In this regard, we condemn the arrest on 28 August of Ms Claudia Gonzalez as well as the raids carried out targeting justice defenders and their relatives.

The pursuit of efforts to overturn the outcome of the elections and continued instrumentalisation of judicial and prosecutorial institutions to undermine the rule of law will inevitably have an impact on Guatemala’s international relations, including with the EU.