Significance: The composition of the court is crucial because two of the top three leading presidential candidates appear to be barred, constitutionally from standing. The First Lady, Sandra Torres de Colom, of the ruling centre-left Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza (UNE) is barred under Article 186 which prohibits candidates who are related to the incumbent by blood (up to second cousin) or “affinity". Alvaro Arzú, the former president (1996-2000) and current mayor of Guatemala City, who is hoping to run for his conservative Partido Unionista (PU)faces the hurdle of Article 187, which outlaws re-election.
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