Statement from the OAS Electoral Mission in Guatemala on the New Raid on the TSE and the Request to Withdraw Immunity from Judges of the Court

Issued the day of the raid, the mission states that this was the fifth operation conducted by the Public Prosecutor's Office after the elections, that it was carried out without due cause and violated the functions, independence and autonomy of the electoral body, and that the Office's permanent siege of the Tribunal without grounds or clear motivation constitutes, in the mission's words, a political persecution reminiscent of those carried out by authoritarian regimes. It records that original documents of Acts 4 and 8 were being confiscated while Tribunal officials were prevented from communicating or recording the operation and court orders were not shown, and that the Public Prosecutor's Office had requested the lifting of the immunity of the regular and alternate judges of the Tribunal for the alleged crimes of fraud, breach of duties and abuse of authority. It repeats that the TREP is a non-binding quick count, that the mission's own figures matched those announced by the Tribunal, and that having analysed the complaints exhaustively it finds no elements that cast doubt on the results.