CONSTITUTIONAL COURT DECLARES RIOS MONTT ELIGIBLE

UNCLAS GUATEMALA 001805

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL MOPS PHUM KDEM GT
SUBJECT: CONSTITUTIONAL COURT DECLARES RIOS MONTT ELIGIBLE
TO RUN FOR PRESIDENT

REF: A. GUATEMALA 1774


B. GUATEMALA 1760


1. (U) By a vote of 4 to 3, the Constitutional Court issued a
decision on the evening of July 14 striking down the earlier
findings of the Registry of Persons, the Supreme Electoral
Tribunal and the Supreme Court (reftels),which had found
that former de facto President Efrain Rios Montt was not
eligible to be a candidate for President, based on Article
186 of the Constitution. The Constitutional Court decision
goes against a 1990 decision by the Constitutional Court and
a 1995 decision by the Supreme Court (Note: In 1995 the
appeal was not raised to the Constitutional Court. End note),
which found that Article 186 of the Constitution did apply to
Rios Montt, and that he could not be a candidate.


2. (U) The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) must now register
Rios Montt as a candidate. Some civil society leaders and
representatives of some opposition political parties have
called on the TSE to refuse to register Rios Montt, arguing
that they can not be compelled to carry out an instruction
that violates the law. Others, however, have said that the
Constitution does not allow for an appeal to the
Constitutional Court's decision, and say that rebellion by
the TSE would only compound the damage to Guatemala's fragile
democratic process begun by the questionable decision of the
Constitutional Court.


3. (U) Reaction to the widely anticipated decision was swift.
Rios Montt ran a paid add on TV only minutes after the
announcement of the decision in which he heralded the
Constitutional Court finding as a victory for the rule of
law, and called on FRG members to refrain from celebrating in
the streets. Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu told
reporters that the Supreme Court decision had been a
"constitutional coup." Private Sector leader Dionisio
Gutierrez said the Court's decision had wrought "irreparable
damage on Guatemala's democratic institutions." GANA
presidential candidate Oscar Berger called on all Guatemalans
to defeat Rios Montt once and for all at the ballot box. The
Ambassador used the Department's previously cleared press
guidance on the morning of July 15: basically, that while the
decision is final, we are perplexed by a decision that, in
the absence of new facts, runs counter to two previous
findings on the issue.


4. (SBU) Comment: The decision, while following the
procedures outlined in the law, goes against the previous
findings of the Court and smacks of partisan manipulation.
Opponents of the FRG view the decision as the opening act of
electoral fraud in the current election campaign, and are
expressing concern that it sets a precedent for the ruling
FRG to perpetrate "further fraud" during the elections. OAS
election observation chief Paniagua, in town on an initial
visit, told the Ambassador (when he phoned to ask that we
lobby other donors for financing) that he did not plan to
comment until he was better grounded in the situation here.
HAMILTON