What changed in the Commission’s vote and what scenarios are expected until the appointment of the President

Home News What changed in the Commission’s vote and what scenarios are expected until the appointment of the President
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April 26, 2026April 26, 2026By Mario Vásquez
What changed in the Commission’s vote and what scenarios are expected until the appointment of the President

President Bernardo Arévalo already has the second list of candidates for attorney general, and analysts warn of legal scenarios until the president makes the appointment and the elected attorney general takes office.

The second list of six candidates to lead the Public Ministry (MP) was formed this Friday, April 24, after the Constitutional Court (CC) ordered the nomination commission to review the evaluations of the candidates for the judicial career and repeat the list of candidates.

The annulment of the first payroll was ordered following a provisional protection that the CC granted to lawyer Raúl Falla, which resolved that the experience of a judge is not comparable with the practice of the legal profession.

The protection was resolved three days after the postulator had joined the first list of candidates.

The action had not been discussed before the full Court for weeks, since the previous magistracy under the presidency of Leyla Lemus.

Subsequently, Anabella Morfín, the first president of the current CC, scheduled the hearing of the case for Thursday, April 23, although the postulator’s schedule agreed to vote on the list of candidates for Monday, the 20th.

The new payroll

Analysts see it as positive that five of the six original names on the first list of candidates for attorney general remain, but they foresee complex legal scenarios until the new attorney general takes office.

The five candidates that were retained are: Julio Rivera Clavería; Nector Guilebaldo de León Ramírez; Beyla Adaly Xiomara Estrada Barrientos; Gabriel Estuardo García Luna and César Augusto Ávila Aparicio.

Former prosecutor Zoila Tatiana Morales Valdizón was unable to remain and her place on the payroll is occupied by Carlos Alberto García Alvarado. Moralez Valdizón was left with nine of the 10 votes necessary to join the payroll.

Unlike the vote on Monday, April 20, Commissioner Mario Raul García Morales, dean of the Rural University, took away his vote from Morales, so he was left off the list.

Leaving out a technical profile with a history of transparency and objectivity, in the opinion of analysts, has weight in the final list of candidates for attorney general.

“Always a technical profile of the MP, but this one, on the other hand, is closer to the current attorney general. There are greater doubts about her independence, so I think that disproportionately decompensates the payroll in consideration of the other profiles that remained,” said Pablo Muñoz, from the Alliance for Reforms.

Morales Valdizón was the one who, in the opinion of the independent observer Alejandro Solórzano, paid the political cost for the preparation of a new list that includes a profile that raises doubts.

“I would believe that we can talk more about a collateral effect in the exclusion of certain profiles and only the main objective was to block or secure certain candidates,” said.

Legal uncertainty

The renewal process for the attorney general and head of the MP is, until now, the second-degree election process that has left the greatest number of legal questions.

The CC ordered a first list of candidates to be repeated, but analysts do not rule out a new setback until the new attorney general takes office on May 17.

“The protections are usually presented strategically at key moments, either before the payroll is sent or prior to the presidential appointment. Therefore, I would consider that it cannot be ruled out that this second payroll also faces these obstacles that delay or modify the course,” Solorzano warned.

Given the exclusion of Marco Antonio Villeda, sources relate the candidate García Luna as the potential “official candidate”, but far from being excluded from the list, he received unanimous support from the 15 commissioners.

“In many of these actions, the risk always seems latent to me. I think that, on the part of the attorney general, of the group that promotes it, an even more effort could be attempted to exclude even Mr. García Luna and complete a list of people with questionable backgrounds,” Muñoz points out.

CC maintains second payroll

This Saturday, April 25, the CC was called to a plenary session to hear two legal actions against the process of integrating the list of candidates for attorney general.

This is an expansion and clarification presented by lawyer Raúl Falla, who obtained the provisional protection; and one more from Claudia Paredes, president of the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) and who presided over the postulator.

The full CC, unanimously, considered that there was nothing to clarify and rejected the two appeals, thus maintaining the integration of the second list of candidates for attorney general.

Presidency analyzes candidates

The new list of candidates for attorney general has already been delivered to the Executive, being delivered to presidential authorities on the night of this Friday, April 24.

When the Department of Social Communication of the Presidential Office was consulted, it responded that the document is currently being analyzed, which will serve for President Arévalo to soon appoint the new attorney general.

Commissioners transfer to the Executive the final list to elect the head of the Public Ministry. (Free Press Photo: Moisés Xec)

“Currently, the file is in the phase of administrative registration and rigorous technical review,” they add that “the Government will act in strict accordance with the Constitution and the law, safeguarding the legal security of the process, so that the appointment is made in a timely manner before the inauguration scheduled for May 17,” they indicated.

During the vote for the new list of candidates for attorney general, María Consuelo Porras was once again left without support from the commissioners to advance her aspiration for a third term as head of the MP.

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