General elections were held in Guatemala on 25 June 2023 to elect the president and vice president, all 160 seats in Congress, all 20 members of the Central American Parliament, and mayors and councils for all the country's 340 municipalities. Incumbent president Alejandro Giammattei was constitutionally prohibited from running for a second four-year term. However, as no presidential candidate obtained over 50 percent of the vote in the first round on 25 June 2023, a second round was held between the top two finishers on 20 August 2023: Congressman Bernardo Arévalo (the son of former president Juan José Arévalo) of the Movimiento Semilla and Sandra Torres, a former first lady representing the National Unity of Hope (UNE) party. Arévalo defeated Torres in the second round with nearly 61 percent of the vote in what was seen as a landslide. The ruling Vamos party won the largest number of seats in Congress.
The certification of the first round results by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal was delayed after the Constitutional Court granted an injunction to parties who challenged the results. On 12 July, the Public Prosecution Service (MP) announced that Semilla was suspended for alleged cases of false signatures to establish the party. This action would have prohibited Arévalo's participation in the second round. The following day, the Constitutional Court reversed the suspension, paving the way for the second round of the presidential election to proceed.
President Alejandro Giammattei congratulated Arévalo for his win in the runoff, promising an orderly transition once the results are certified. A key representative of the Organization of American States (OAS), which has a team of 86 election observers in Guatemala, said the runoff voting had gone smoothly. Torres and the National Unity of Hope did not accept the electoral result and alleged electoral fraud in favor of Arévalo.
On 12 September 2023, the Public Prosecution Service opened the boxes containing the electoral ballots. The Supreme Electoral Tribunal condemned the decision and described it as "illegal". The attorney general's office stated that there are "several investigations" against the electoral process. Legally, it is not possible to open electoral boxes and it is only valid with those contested within the time established by law.
On 8 December 2023, the Attorney General's office found "irregularities" in the presidential election and requested that the results be annulled. Prosecutors José Rafael Curruchiche and Leonor Eugenia Morales Lazo announced that they found "altered vote counts" inside ballot boxes and claimed the boxes were not properly secured. Lazo said the irregularities should annul the election for president, Vice President, and Congress. On 14 December, the Constitutional Court, in a 4–1 decision, upheld the results of the election, ordered the Congress to "guarantee" the inauguration of Arévalo, and rejected the moves of the Public Prosecutor to have the elections nullified. However, challenges in the Congress led to delays in the inauguration, which finally took place in the early morning of 15 January.
Background.
In July 2021, Attorney General María Consuelo Porras dismissed the head of the special prosecutor's office against impunity, Juan Francisco Sandoval. Sandoval left the country shortly afterwards to 'protect [his] life and integrity'. The Attorney General subsequently increased investigations on judges, lawyers and prosecutors linked to the fight against corruption; several former investigators of the Special Prosecutor's Office against Impunity (FECI) and the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) were arrested in 2022 and others forced into exile or else continually harassed. Among the exiled judges are Miguel Ángel Gálvez (known for handling the La Línea corruption case) and Erika Aifán (awarded with the International Women of Courage Award in 2021). In September 2021, the United States Department of State announced that it had added Porras to a list of "undemocratic and corrupt" officials. According to the US State Department, Porras "actively undermined" the corruption investigations conducted by Sandoval and his team. Among those sanctioned by the United States are also the Secretary General of the Public Prosecution Service Ángel Pineda and the head of the Special Prosecutor's Office Against Impunity and Porras' right-hand man, Rafael Curruchiche.
At the end of July 2022, the police arrested journalist José Rubén Zamora, founder of the daily "El Periódico", and searched the newspaper's headquarters, which had accused President Alejandro Giammattei and Attorney General Consuelo Porras of corruption. Some journalists also went into exile after the Public Prosecution Service began investigations against them. During the trial of José Rubén Zamora in 2023, a judge asked to initiate an investigation against nine journalists. In November 2022, Amnesty International declared Virginia Laparra a "prisoner of conscience". Laparra was one of the jailed anti-corruption prosecutors who was part of Juan Francisco Sandoval's team.
The United Nations and the European Union condemned the investigations of anti-corruption prosecutors in Guatemala and expressed that these procedures "weaken" the rule of law. The International Federation for Human Rights, the World Organisation Against Torture and other NGOs warned in 2022 about the "strengthening of authoritarian rule" in Guatemala and declared that the country was "experiencing an alarming phenomenon of capture and control of public institutions by economic and political elites".
A sharp increase in violent crime and a punishingly high cost of living have made Giammattei deeply unpopular. In January 2022, halfway through his term, Giammattei had a 27% approval rating according to a CID Gallup poll, one of the lowest among the continent's presidents. In 2023, only 2.9% of respondents rate the Giammattei administration as good. Emigration to the United States increased sharply under his presidency.
Registration of candidates.
The registration of candidates for the elections was also clouded by criticism for the "unclear" arguments used by the Registry of Citizens and the magistrates of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. The ticket of Movement for the Liberation of Peoples was not registered due to "legal problems" of the vice-presidential candidate Jordán Rodas; while Roberto Arzú's candidacy was revoked for allegedly carrying out "anticipated campaigning". Presidential candidate Edmond Mulet was denounced by the Public Prosecution Service for three consecutive days. The first complaint he received was for having spoken out against the investigation of the nine journalists during the Zamora trial, while the other two were for allegedly engaging in "anticipated campaigning" for which reason Mulet's participation is uncertain. The Supreme Court of Justice rejected the challenge, however, on 11 May, the Public Prosecution Service challenged Mulet's candidacy before the Constitutional Court.
On 21 March 2023, the Electoral Tribunal announced that it had rejected the candidacy of the party Commitment, Renewal and Order due to "legal problems" of presidential candidate Francisco Arredondo. The political party filed a legal appeal to reverse the decision of the electoral court, finally, the magistrates accepted the appeal and registered Arredondo as a presidential candidate. The candidacies presented by the Opportunities and Development Party were annulled for not correctly carrying out their nomination assemblies.
Cabal and the URNG–Winaq coalition challenged the candidacy of Zury Ríos before the Registry of Citizens, stating that the Constitution prevented her from running for the presidency because she is the daughter of former president Efraín Ríos Montt who came to power through a coup. Although the appeals were dismissed, Cabal also challenged before the Supreme Court of Justice and the Constitutional Court but they were rejected and Ríos's candidacy remained firm.
Todos challenged the candidacy of Sandra Torres before the Registry of Citizens, the Supreme Court of Justice and the Constitutional Court, affirming that Romeo Guerra, Torres's nominee for vice president, had a constitutional impediment, since the Constitution prevents ministers of worship to running for president and vice president and Guerra was an evangelical pastor before becoming Torres's running mate. The process was rejected by the Electoral Registry and the Supreme Court of Justice. Finally, the Constitutional Court rejected the legal challenge and Torres's candidacy was maintained.
In May 2023, Change challenged the candidacy of Carlos Pineda before the Supreme Court of Justice. The legal filing claimed that there were "irregularities" in the nomination assemblies of Citizen Prosperity. On 19 May, a judge accepted the legal appeal presented, so Carlos Pineda's candidacy was annulled, along with 218 other candidates for deputies and mayors from Citizen Prosperity. On 9 June, a court accepted a legal appeal filed by the Secretary-General of Citizen Prosperity Lilian Piedad García and ordered the registration of lists for candidates for deputies in eleven departments, however, the presidential ticket, the candidates for deputies by National List, the Central District, the Central American Parliament and the other eleven departments, and mayoral candidates remained out of contention. On 11 June, the Constitutional Court revoked the legal recourse granted to the party and ordered the Public Prosecution Service to investigate the court that issued the recourse.
The opposition party Semilla has alleged "irregularities" in a case against it for allegedly forging the signature of a party affiliate. The file was transferred from the Electoral Crimes Prosecutor's Office to the Special Prosecutor's Office Against Impunity led by Curruchiche. Presidential candidate Bernardo Arévalo said that these actions put the party's electoral participation at risk. Deputy Samuel Pérez Álvarez alleged "partiality" on the part of the judicial authorities. He also indicated that in 2015, the Registry of Citizens detected alleged anomalies in almost signatures of members of the Progressive Liberator Party (now Valor) and the process has not advanced.
The opposition party Will, Opportunity and Solidarity led by presidential candidate Manuel Villacorta was denounced for allegedly falsifying affiliate signatures in May 2023. Villacorta has previously denounced "systematic attacks" to curb his party's participation.
Campaign.
Results from the 2020 Latinobarómetro survey indicated that Guatemala had one of the lowest levels of trust and support for democracy in the region among the electorate: only 37% of citizens considered democracy to be preferable to any other form of government, and 65% were not satisfied with how it operated in Guatemala. In terms of political rights, only 9% of Guatemalans considered that their right to participate in political life is fully guaranteed. The atmosphere of optimism for change that had been present for the elections in 2015 had faded by 2020.
Of the 4.5 million registered citizens aged between 18 and 30, only 2.6 million were on the electoral roll and eligible to vote in 2023.
A substantial number of candidates ran a right-wing campaign, highlighting their attachment to religious values and the defence of private property, as well as their opposition to the legalisation of abortion. In particular, the security policies of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele were held up as an example to follow. The Evangelical churches continue to have a major influence on political life, having participated in the selection of Supreme Court and Constitutional Court judges, among other things. During the final debate of the campaign, the discussions focused in particular on gay marriage, while the issue of poverty, which affects at least 54% of the population, was ignored. On the contrary, "the discourse and ideas of the left have disappeared from the debate", due to the elimination of the most popular left-wing candidates by the electoral authorities.
The three favourites in the election (Ríos, Torres, and Mulet) made extensive use of clientelist practices. People who came to their meetings were offered various gifts, even a sum of money in the case of Ríos. Political party activists circulate among the ranks, taking down the names and addresses of those present as "primary beneficiaries" in the event of their candidate's victory. Vote buying is a common practice in Guatemalan elections and often goes unpunished.
After proceeding to the run-off, Torres focused on winning over conservative voters, particularly supporters of Ríos. Torres expressed her opposition to same-sex marriage and instead promoted family values. She accused Semilla of being a "socialist" and "communist" party. She accused her second round opponent, Arévalo, of being a puppet of both former attorney general Thelma Aldana and Colombian defense minister Iván Velásquez. Aldana and Velásquez together had investigated corruption cases in Guatemala for the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala. Political analyst Luis Mack noted that Torres's attacks against Arévalo were an appeal to religious conservatives and the far-right, both of which opposed anti-corruption efforts and foreign interference in Guatemala. Torres also accused Arévalo of wanting to expropriate private property and end religious freedom in favor of an "LGBT ideology".
Fraud allegations.
Some political parties and their presidential candidates such as Amílcar Rivera (Victory), Arévalo (Semilla) and Manuel Villacorta (Will, Opportunity and Solidarity) openly expressed the possibility of electoral fraud. Adding to these denunciations were the excluded