By SONIA PÉREZ D. AND MEGAN JANETSKY
GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei called Tuesday for a democratic transition of power to anti-corruption campaigner and president-elect Bernardo Arévalo and his Seed Movement party, which have faced waves of legal attacks in attempts to block his rise to power.
The president’s statement came after a night of political chaos in the Central American nation following one of its most tumultuous elections in recent history.
Hours before the country’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal certified late Monday that Arévalo won this month’s presidential election, another government body — the electoral registry — suspended his party from all political activities. The Seed Movement asked the country’s top electoral authority to lift the suspension.
Arévalo called the suspension illegal at a news conference Monday and said that now the vote has been certified “no one can impede me from taking office on Jan. 14.” Arévalo and his party, posing a threat to those keen on holding onto power, have faced a slew of legal challenges, allegations of irregularities and assassination plots, according to international observers.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday congratulated Arévalo on his election as the next president of Guatemala, saying in a statement that the United States remains “concerned with continued actions by those who seek to undermine Guatemala’s democracy.”
“We stand with our partners in the international community and with the Guatemalan people against these unacceptable efforts, including the use of prosecutorial powers against those who seek transparency and accountability,” the statement said.
Arévalo already appeared certain to take office as president in January, after easily beating conservative former first lady Sandra Torres in that runoff. He got 60.9% of the votes, while she had 37.2%.
In a brief message to Guatemalans on Tuesday, Giammattei said…
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