The Special Mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) for the Strengthening of Democratic Institutions in Guatemala is closely monitoring recent developments regarding the accreditation of the electoral bodies that will make up the University Electoral Body responsible for electing the rector of the University of San Carlos de Guatemala on April 8. The Mission recalls that it has previously issued statements regarding the institutional situation at the University of San Carlos of Guatemala, particularly regarding the need to regularize and promptly renew its Higher University Council, given its impact on institutional processes of great importance to the country (see press releases of November 14, 2025 and January 27, 2026). Although this process does not constitute, strictly speaking, a second-degree election in the sense in which the Mission has been observing other institutional processes in the country, its relevance to democratic institutions, the election of State authorities, public higher education, and public trust justifies an institutional statement.
The Mission has been informed of legal injunctions, reports of selective accreditation, the criminalization of university actors, questions regarding the exclusion of validly designated electors, and a growing climate of conflict surrounding this decisive phase of the process.
In this context, the Mission recalls that, in any electoral process, and all the more so in one that affects the legitimacy of the country's only public university, the composition of the electorate must be governed by clear, objective, verifiable, non-discriminatory, and pre-established criteria, with full respect for due process, the principle of equality, and the right to participate of those who have been validly elected in accordance with applicable regulations. Certainty regarding who comprises the electorate is not a secondary aspect of the process: it constitutes a basic condition of legality, integrity, and institutional credibility. This requirement is consistent with the principles of transparency, publicity and public access, impartiality, and freedom from undue pressure that the Mission has repeatedly emphasized regarding institutional processes in Guatemala.
The Mission considers that any arbitrary, selective, or insufficiently justified exclusion from the electoral body, as well as any decision that alters the composition of the electorate called to vote without a clear basis, could seriously compromise the legitimacy of the rector election process, deepen university conflict, and give rise to new judicial and institutional controversies. Similarly, restrictions on access to information, limitations on public or journalistic observation, and the lack of adequate publicity and transparency at this stage undermine confidence in the process and fuel perceptions of opacity.
For this reason, the Mission urges the relevant university authorities and the bodies responsible for the process, as well as the courts hearing the corresponding injunctions, including the Constitutional Court, to:
• ensure that the accreditation of electoral bodies is carried out in strict accordance with the law, through decisions that are duly substantiated, uniform, and publicly explained;
• guarantee that no exclusion is carried out in an arbitrary or discriminatory manner; preserve conditions of transparency, access to information, and observation; and
• avoid any action that could be interpreted as an artificial alteration of the will expressed in the internal elections that gave rise to said electoral bodies.
Likewise, the Mission calls on the Ministry of the Interior and the National Civil Police to adopt, within the scope of their authority and with strict respect for university autonomy, the preventive and protective measures necessary to guarantee the life, integrity, and safety of voters, as well as the candidates for rector, during the periods preceding, concurrent with, and following election day, preventing acts of intimidation, violence, or coercion that could affect the free exercise of their rights and the normal conduct of the process.
The Mission reiterates that the University of San Carlos of Guatemala, given its public, autonomous, and strategic nature within the country's institutional life, must conduct this process with the utmost democratic responsibility. Public trust in the election of the rector will depend, to a large extent, on whether the composition of the university electorate is perceived as lawful, comprehensive, impartial, and free from undue exclusions or artificial advantages for any candidate.
The OAS Special Mission will continue to monitor, within the framework of its mandate, any events that may affect the legality, legitimacy, and public confidence in institutional processes in Guatemala.
Reference: E-037/26
