Guatemala's two lower courts of appeal, the supreme electoral tribunal and the supreme court of justice (CSJ), rejected Ríos Montt's candidacy as unconstitutional on 16 June and 5 July, respectively. They argued that the constitution forbids those having participated in a coup from seeking the presidency. The final court of appeal, the constitutional court (CC), overturned these rulings on 15 July on the grounds that the law cannot be applied retroactively (the law was introduced into the constitution two years after Ríos Montt fell from power in 1985).
Hundreds of human rights activists demonstrated outside the court. Nobel peace prize winner Rigoberta Menchú denounced the FRG for practising 'electoral fraud' by stacking the CC in order to obtain a favourable verdict: four of the seven justices on the court, including the president, Guillermo Ruiz (a boyhood friend of Ríos Montt), are confessed FRG sympathisers.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Dato Param Cumaraswamy, also chimed in: 'It is ironic that the same Constitutional Court had previously decided to bar General Ríos Montt's candidacy for the presidential elections in 1990 and 1995, pursuant to the same provision in the Constitution [...] This latest decision flies in the face not only of previous decisions of the CC but also of the specific recommendations I made after my mission to Guatemala in 1999, that all personalities who were known to have committed human rights violations during the armed conflict should be removed from public office [...] That the highest Court [...] could come to such a decision, inconsistent with its own previous decisions, is beyond belief. It certainly calls into question the Court's independence, impartiality and integrity.'
What nobody is questioning is that the previous two rulings of the CC were right. The idea of applying laws retroactively would be widely condemned if it were not for the fact that Ríos Montt is perceived to be an odious beneficiary in this case. The allegation about the court's impartiality is justified, but that merely strengthens the case for judicial reform, it does not make this ruling wrong: the judicial system was equally flawed when the then-ruling Partido de Avanzada Nacional (PAN) loaded the court to prevent Ríos Montt from running before.
There is still a slim chance that Ríos Montt will not be registered. The CSJ has agreed to hear an appeal by the opposition Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE), a PAN splinter group led by second-placed presidential aspirant Alvaro Colom. UNE has based its appeal on the strength of article 156 of the constitution, which states that no public official is obliged to accept illegal orders. This, it argues, is what the electoral college would have to do in complying with the CC's ruling. The CSJ has until 28 July to hear the arguments put forward by UNE and Ríos Montt. If the CSJ rules against Ríos Montt, it will go to the CC once more.
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