GUATEMALA CITY (AP) 鈥 The party of former first lady Sandra Torres, who lost Guatemala鈥檚 presidential election this week, filed a complaint Friday alleging fraud in the way the votes were counted.
The complaint is the latest attempt to eradicate competition to Guatemala's political elite in in the Central American nation鈥檚 recent history.
Torres, a candidate who came to exemplify the political establishment in a country where many people have grown tired of endemic corruption, has remained silent since her loss in Sunday's runoff election and .
While the Supreme Electoral Tribunal recognized progressive Bernardo Ar茅valo of the Seed Movement party as the virtual winner with a significant lead over Torres, final results have yet to be made official.
Ar茅valo emerged as the in the first round of the presidential contest, finishing second in a field of 22 and advancing to the Aug. 20 runoff with Torres.
Carlos L贸pez, a lawyer for Torres' 好色tv Unity of Hope party, filed the complaint on behalf of the party, citing irregularities in the vote counting. The complaint, read by The Associated Press, said they amounted to 鈥渆lectoral fraud that changed the true voting results, violating the popular will expressed by the people through vote."
He presented no initial evidence to journalists to back up his claims.
The complaint also accused electoral authorities of breaching their duties and abuse of authority in the electoral process.
In comments to reporters, L贸pez alleged that there had been duplicate vote tallies that called into question the country鈥檚 vote-counting system. Though according an official electoral tribunal, in the 164 voting stations called into question, two vote tallies 鈥 one for presidential elections and another for municipal 鈥 were expected.
Torres' party also claimed that votes were counted too hastily and that the speed in which the race was called was physically impossible, and said party monitors were not given copies of documents tallying the votes. The party demanded that authorities do a forensic analysis of the results of both rounds of the presidential elections.
鈥淭he complaint is related to electoral fraud that we consider was committed when processing the data,鈥 L贸pez said to journalists.
Ar茅valo鈥檚 victory has left much of the country鈥檚 political establishment reeling, and earlier attempts to disqualify his candidacy have raised international alarms over the state of Guatemala鈥檚 democracy.
On Friday, hundreds of Guatemalans protested outside the prosecutor's office, demanding that one prosecutor resign following accusations that she was part of an attempt to persecute Ar茅valo's political party.
United Nations Secretary-General Ant贸nio Guterres expressed concern about the attempts to undermine the results of Guatemala's presidential election, a U.N. spokeswoman said Friday.
On Thursday, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights announced precautionary measures in favor of Ar茅valo and his running mate Karin Herrera, considering that their lives and integrity are in danger after they reported two possible assassination attempts against them.
