Top candidate excluded from presidential election in Guatemala Medvedev calls for Ukraine to be split: “There is no other option”

A month before the presidential elections in Guatemala, one of the leading candidates has been excluded from the race. The Constitutional Court on Friday rejected a request from entrepreneur Carlos Pineda against the suspension of his candidacy, which a court had previously decided. Pineda, who led some polls, is the third presidential candidate to be excluded from the election.

“Corruption has won, Guatemala has lost. No to electoral fraud,” Pineda, the candidate for the conservative party Prosperidad Ciudadana (Citizen Prosperity), wrote in response on Twitter. The reason for the exclusion was alleged irregularities at a party meeting.

The election comes amid warnings of a failing democracy in Central America’s most populous country of 17 million. The European Union, the US government and numerous non-governmental organizations have expressed concern about the situation. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, denounced candidates being excluded from the elections for “apparently arbitrary reasons”.

Before Pineda, left-wing indigenous candidate Thelma Cabrera and conservative Roberto Arzú had already been excluded. On June 25, the president, the deputies and the mayor will be elected. If none of the presidential candidates win an absolute majority, a second round between the top two will take place on August 20. After four years in office, conservative head of state Alejandro Giammattei can no longer stand for election because the constitution does not allow re-election.

In Guatemala, dozens of anti-corruption judges and prosecutors have been prosecuted and exiled in recent years. A major independent newspaper was recently forced to close its doors after the controversial arrest of its founder on money laundering charges. (sda/dpa)