Protesters collect in entrance of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal constructing in Guatemala City, Wednesday. The tribunal licensed presidential election outcomes, sending candidates Sandra Torres and Bernardo Arévalo to an Aug. 20 runoff, whereas the Attorney General’s Office introduced that Arévalo’s get together had been suspended.

Moises Castillo/AP

disguise caption

toggle caption

Moises Castillo/AP

Protesters collect in entrance of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal constructing in Guatemala City, Wednesday. The tribunal licensed presidential election outcomes, sending candidates Sandra Torres and Bernardo Arévalo to an Aug. 20 runoff, whereas the Attorney General’s Office introduced that Arévalo’s get together had been suspended.

Moises Castillo/AP

SAN MARCOS DE COLÓN, Honduras — The presidential race in Guatemala is in limbo even because the nation’s prime electoral officers have licensed the outcomes of the first-round elections final month.

After delays attributable to protests from Guatemala’s political elite, the nation’s prime electoral physique lastly licensed the outcomes of June’s elections late Wednesday night.

It mentioned former first girl Sandra Torres, who was as soon as jailed on corruption prices, would face off in a second spherical towards reformist candidate Bernardo Arévalo, who ran on an anti-corruption platform.

At almost the identical time, another court decided extensively considered as politically motivated: It accused Arévalo’s get together, Semilla, of fraud and ordered he not be allowed to take part in politics.

Speaking to CNN en Español, Arévalo mentioned he wouldn’t obey a “spurious and illegal decision” that got here from a court docket identified for making political choices.

Arévalo, the runner-up within the vote in June, is the son of the late Juan José Arévalo, who’s extensively thought to be Guatemala’s first democratically elected president.

The electoral physique mentioned it didn’t but know what the court docket determination meant or if the transfer was authorized.

An impartial watchdog group, Mirador Electoral, mentioned in a press release that the court docket’s announcement amounted to an “open act of illegality.”

The U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, Brian A. Nichols, expressed the federal government’s worries concerning the developments. While welcoming the affirmation of the first-round vote, he tweeted, “We are deeply concerned by threats to Guatemala’s electoral democracy. Institutions must respect the will of voters.”