The Guatemalan Constitutional Court has ruled to put an end to the presidential campaign of the dark horse candidate Carlos Pineda, with only one month left before the voting begins.
Pineda, a conservative businessman with a large following on social media, had appealed to the country’s highest court after a judge suspended his candidacy a week ago, citing failure to comply with the country’s electoral laws.
But on Friday, the Constitutional Court upheld the lower court’s ruling, which found Pineda failed to collect the signatures of party delegates or submit required financial reports, as required in the nomination process.
That decision provoked a fierce response from Pineda, who had recently emerged as the favorite in an electoral poll.
“Corruption won, Guatemala lost,” Pineda wrote in a post on social media.
In another, he said that the Constitutional Court had endorsed “electoral fraud” with its ruling: “We are left without democracy!!”
Pineda is the third candidate so far to be disqualified from the presidential race, with the first round of voting scheduled for June 25.
His disqualification follows that of fellow conservative Roberto Arzú on Thursday.
Earlier this year, a left-leaning indigenous candidate, Thelma Cabrera, was also excluded from the race after her running mate, former human rights official Jordán Rodas, was declared ineligible.
Rodas allegedly failed to submit a letter confirming that he had no legal proceedings pending against him, leading a court to rule that his entire candidacy, including Cabrera, could not register for the election.
Critics have denounced the disqualifications as politically motivated, with the intention of eliminating candidates considered unfavorable to the establishment of the government.
On Twitter, Juan Pappier, acting deputy director for the Americas at Human Rights Watch, denounced Friday’s ruling as a “clear use of the judiciary to guarantee an ‘electoral’ result.”
The administration of outgoing President Alejandro Giammattei has already been accused of stifling dissent in Guatemala.
Earlier this month, ElPeriódico, a 27-year-old investigative news outlet, said it was “forced” to cease its daily publications after “persecution” against its staff “intensified.” Its founder, José Rubén Zamora, had previously been arrested for money laundering and blackmail.
And under Giammattei, about 30 legal experts and anti-corruption officials, including judges and lawyers, have fled the country after his administration launched investigations against him.
Many of these figures have ties to the now closed International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), an independent organization backed by the United Nations to root out corruption in the country.
Those who remain face possible arrest and prosecution. On Friday, Guatemalan police arrested Stuardo Campos, a prosecutor focused on crimes against migrants who had previously worked on anti-corruption cases.
The far-right group Fundación Contra el Terrorismo had filed a complaint against Campos alleging that he had abused his authority.
“This complaint is spurious,” Campos said in response. “I know that my work as an anti-corruption prosecutor earned me animosity in many quarters.”
Giammattei is not eligible for re-election in the June race, but his conservative Vamos party has a competing candidate: Manuel Conde. However, no Guatemalan political party has been successful in winning consecutive presidential elections.
On Wednesday, days before his disqualification, Pineda had led a poll that ranked the presidential candidates. He led with 22 percent support among voters. It was followed on its heels by former first lady Sandra Torres with 20 percent, followed by Zury Ríos —daughter of former President Efraín Ríos Montt, accused of genocide— and diplomat Edmond Mulet.
Some 30 political parties are expected to compete. Pineda represented the Prosperidad Ciudadana party, or “Citizen Prosperity.”
