Taiwan is to continue to deepen ties with Guatemala no matter which candidate wins the second round of its presidential election, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday amid tumult following the first round of the Central American ally’s election last month.
Former Guatemalan first lady Sandra Torres and Bernardo Arevalo of the Movimiento Semilla received the most votes in the first round of the election held on June 25 and advanced to a second round, which is scheduled for Aug. 20.
A court suspended the legal status of the Movimiento Semilla party on the grounds that a large number of signatures were allegedly illegally gathered to allow the party’s formation, but the nation’s top electoral body finally certified the results of the election on July 12, ensuring Arevalo’s qualification for the second round.
Photo: Reuters
The US said that it was “deeply concerned by efforts that interfere with the June 25 election result,” adding that “undermining the June 25 election would be a grave threat to democracy with far-reaching implications.”
The attempt to revoke the legal status of Movimiento Semilla might “put at risk the legitimacy of the electoral process at the core of Guatemala’s democracy,” US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement on July 13.
Nations including Germany, Canada, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Chile and Norway all expressed concerns over the suspension, while the Washington-based Organization of American States called for “free and transparent” measures to complete the election process.
Asked about the issue in Taipei, Department of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs head Cheng Li-cheng (鄭力城) yesterday told a regular news conference that democracy is a universal principle that members of the international community abide by.
The ministry called on all parties to follow the mechanism of democratic rule of law to resolve the dispute, he said.
Taiwan respects the judicial and electoral operations of Guatemala, and the results of the free will of the Guatemalan people and democratic procedures, he added.
The ministry would monitor the situation closely, Cheng said, adding that the government would continue to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the Guatemalan government based on shared values and the long-standing diplomatic partnership no matter who came out on top of the election next month.
Arevalo, the son of Guatemala’s first democratically elected president, Juan Jose Arevalo, visited Taiwan while serving as a deputy minister of foreign affairs in the 1990s.
Despite unpromising poll results prior to the first round of the election, Arevalo secured a surprise victory with his hard-line anti-corruption stance.
He said that he would pursue closer trade relations with China if he wins the presidential election.
Torres told Japanese media that if elected president, she would bolster Guatemala’s diplomatic and commercial ties with Taiwan, and consider establishing a special economic zone with preferential taxes to attract more Taiwanese investment.
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