The Nomination Commission for Attorney General qualified María Consuelo Porras, current head of the Public Ministry (MP), granting him a score of 92.33 points out of 100, making him eligible for the final list of six candidates.
Until now, the current attorney general is the professional with the highest grade in the MP renewal process, being candidate number six of 31 who have been qualified, who achieves the cut-off line of 75 points.
That minimum grade was agreed upon by the nomination commission, defining that the final list of the six candidates for attorney general that must be sent to President Bernardo Arévalo, will be made up of the best qualified.
But in the event that at least 12 applicants do not reach that minimum grade, the postulator also defined that they can lower that minimum grade, to expand the possibility of professionals who become potential candidates to lead the MP.
María Consuelo Porras presented her file to seek a third term as head of the MP, despite the fact that she maintains a public feud with President Bernardo Arévalo.
The president even publicly declared that Consuelo Porras has no chance of being re-elected for the position, but being the highest score so far, it leaves open the possibility for her to be part of the final list and subtract a space for another candidate who could be liked by President Arévalo.
Consuelo Porras was first elected to the position of attorney general in 2018, by then-president Jimmy Morales, later President Alejandro Giammattei re-elected her to the position in 2022.
The rating
When reviewing the file, the applicant takes five minutes to do a thorough review of all the accredited documents, to determine the grade that each applicant achieves in the grading table.
This table is a tool that serves to measure each of the applicants in aspects of professional experience, academic preparation and ethics that are classified as human projection.
In the academic part it received 24 points, but some commissioners such as José Andrés Reyes, dean of Da Vinci University, and Patricia Gámez, president of the Board of Directors of the College of Lawyers and Notaries of Guatemala (Cang), expressed doubts about the doctoral thesis and the alleged plagiarism that has been publicly denounced.
“In the impediments, the aspects of the applicant’s thesis were accepted, it is a precedent. However, we are today studying the documents, so she, today, has those 10 points,” said Reyes.
During the objections phase Consuelo Porras was questioned for apparent plagiarism, an issue for which until now the postulator has not commented.
In professional experience, the current head of the MP accredited 25 years of practice as a lawyer and the two periods as attorney general, together with what she accumulated in the interview, earned her a total of 66.33 points.
In human projection, which measures ethical merits, he received two points. Making it the highest rating so far with a total of 92.33 points.
Consuelo Porras’ note was supported by 13 of 15 commissioners. Luis Ruano, dean of Mariano Gálvez University and Patricia Gámez abstained from voting. Ruano represents the university related to the doctorate that is questioned in favor of the prosecutor.
The CC facilitated its advancement in 2022
In the 2022 process, the Constitutional Court (CC) granted provisional protection to lawyers Erick Castillo who ordered the integration of Porras on the list of six candidates for attorney general. Porras entered the list of candidates with the unanimous vote of the commission, not because the fifteen commissioners agreed to nominate her, but because she obtained the highest point (90 points out of 100) when the grading table was applied to her and the court’s resolution forced seven deans to vote for her, according to the Projusticia Movement monitoring report released at that time.