On June 25, Guatemalans went to the polls to elect their new president, Congress and local officials. Citizen observers representing several civil society organizations, including the Misión de Observación Electoral - Guatemala (MOE-Gt),  Mirador Electoral and the Plataforma de Mujeres Indígenas (PMI) monitored key aspects of the pre-election and election-day processes.

On election day, MOE-Gt conducted a systematic Parallel Vote Tabulation (PVT), a proven methodology employed by citizen observers around the world, to assess the quality of the process and verify that official results reflected the will of voters as expressed at the ballot box. MOE-Gt’s PVT confirmed that official results published by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) are consistent with the ballots cast by voters.

Following the first round, however, there have been judicial actions that have stalled the process and could lead to the disqualification of one of the candidates selected by voters to go to a second round. Questioning a candidate's registration after voting has taken place is an improper election practice, can be considered as an abuse of judicial resources for electoral gain, and would undermine public confidence in the integrity of the electoral process.

GNDEM and RedOIE join MOE-Gt, Mirador Electoral and other citizen and international observers in calling for Guatemala’s institutions to respect the legal framework and the will of the people, and to remove any further impediment for Guatemalan citizens to select their new president in a second round between the two candidates who received the most votes on June 25.

The Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors (GNDEM), with 251 member organizations in 89 countries and territories, and regional network members in Africa, Asia, Europe and Eurasia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East/North Africa, has worked to facilitate and enhance the critical work of citizen election monitors throughout the world. The Declaration of Global Principles for Nonpartisan Election Observation embodies GNDEM’s approach to rights, responsibilities and ethical obligations of nonpartisan citizen election monitoring, and GNDEM encourages its members to endorse and implement the Declaration and Code of Conduct.

The Election Observation and Integrity Network (RedOIE) represents civic organizations and movements from 17 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. It aims to contribute to the transparency, legitimacy, legality and equity of electoral processes and governance in the region.