A Guatemalan tribunal certifies election results minutes after another court suspends one party

By SONIA PÉREZ D.

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala’s electoral authorities have certified the results of the country’s presidential election, setting conservative Sandra Torres and progressive Bernardo Arévalo up for a runoff vote. The decision came minutes after the Attorney General’s Office said a judge had suspended the legal status of Arévalo’s party. The seemingly contradictory moves fed more than two weeks of rising tensions and suspicions. There were immediate calls for Guatemalans to take to the streets in protest and demonstrators began gathering outside the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. It was not immediately clear how the situation would play out now that yet another court had intervened in Guatemala’s electoral process.