International and lawyers organizations joined the petition to assume the new board of directors of the Bar Association and Notaries of Guatemala (CANG), after the current authorities decided not to translate the position until an amparo they presented is resolved, in which they question the results of the guild’s elections.
The International Platform Entities against Impunity, acting together Guatemala, American Friends Service Committee, Latin America Working Group, Be Just Believe In Justice, Cejil and Luis von Ahn Foundation signed a statement in which they express their concern about “the threats to obstruct the process of taking possession of the new members of the Board of Directors. CANG investment advisory committee ”.
“Access to power, its exercise and the guarantees of choosing and being elected according to the rule of law is an essential element of democracy,” they say.
They added: “The results of the election of new CANG authorities, through the suffrage of their members, must materialize by taking possession and not be obstructed through resources that lack foundation.”
In the statement they notice that every person has the right to raise questions, but these must be submitted “within the legally established period”.
Finally, they call on the Assembly of Presidents of Professional Colleges to immediately resolve the appeal and guarantee the inauguration of the new Board of Directors.
This March 20, the elected authorities must assume their positions on the Board of Directors and the CANG Court of Honor, so they pointed out to the outgoing board, chaired by Mario Siekavizza, to usurp functions and want to retain their positions.
The Board of Directors of the Guatemalan Institute of Notarial and Registry Law expressed its confidence that this period will not be extended and urged the assembly of presidents of the professional associations to “urgently resolve the appeal raised to avoid a preceding precedent for the institutionality of the guild.”
They also urged all the actors involved in the democratic transition process to “scrupulously respect the principle of alternation in the exercise of power and the democratic regime, and to give up any action that is contrary to the will expressed by the General Assembly.”
Last Friday assumed the new Board of Directors of the Assembly of Presidents of Professional Colleges, the body responsible for resolving the appeal. However, the Assembly has remained silent and has not reported a possible date to know the case.
This body, which brings together all the presidents of the Professional Colleges, also includes Mario Siekavizza, current president of CANG, who, according to the statement, will not deliver the position and will remain at the head of the school.
The appeal presented by Sagastume Vidaurre indicates a series of errors in the voting of the Bar Association, held on February 7 and 14, highlighting an apparent inconsistency in the certification of the call.
Power quota
For Carmen Aída Ibarra, director of the Projusticia movement, this is a “more arbitrariness that occurs in the world of professional associations”, and in this case it is due to the fact that important public elections are coming.
For Ibarra, the representatives of the lawyer guild have a fee of power, since they affect the election of candidates for the Supreme Electoral Court, Constitutional Court, as well as in the selection of applicants to the Attorney General and head of the Public Ministry.
“Beyond the problem they face at this time, the Bar Association becomes relevant because all the eyes are put in the election of Attorney General, and they have a quota of power because they affect the public power,” he said.