Election challenge in Guatemala perceived as “attempted coup”

International organizations are calling the legal challenge against the election of a leader in Guatemala, who is against corruption, an “attempted coup”.

Bernardo Arévalo was supposed to become president in January, but on Friday, the country’s prosecutor’s office said the result doesn’t count.

The European Union and the Organization of American States said they didn’t like what happened and want someone new to take over.

Mr Arévalo said the prosecutor was trying to take over the government.

Many people saw his win in August as a rejection of Guatemala‘s powerful and corrupt politicians.

The 65-year-old leader of the party Seed Movement won a lot of votes, more than 60%, by promising to improve the way the government works in the Central American country.

But his opponents keep saying the election was unfair and that Mr. Arévalo’s party cheated and didn’t follow the rules when registering.

Mr Arévalo, international observers, and his supporters say the accusations are not true. They think the prosecutors are just trying to play politics.

People who want more democracy have been protesting on the streets to support Mr. Arévalo and to ask the attorney general and other officials to leave their positions.

On Friday, prosecutor Leonor Morales said the August election result should be canceled because the wrong voting forms were used during the first round of the presidential election in June.

Blanca Alfaro, who is in charge of the Guatemalan electoral commission, said that the result cannot be changed. She also said that Mr Arévalo will be officially sworn in next month as scheduled.

On Friday, the prosecutor’s office tried to stop the president-elect’s party from being sworn in. This comes after previous attempts to suspend his party. Many people think this is a way to prevent him from becoming president.

EU foreign policy leader Josep Borrell said the election fraud claims are false and called Friday’s announcement an attempt to overthrow the government, led by prosecutors with political motives.

He wanted the power to change in a fair way and said there would be consequences for those who caused trouble.

The Organization of American States said the prosecutor’s involvement is something dictatorships do, not democracies.