The Semilla Movement party had rapprochement with former Attorney General Thelma Aldana to explore a possible presidential candidacy and a coalition with Encuentro por Guatemala and Libre.
[27][28] Members of the public in seven of the 22 departments also held protests against the Attorney General's office, accusing it of attempting to interfere in the electoral process.
[32] On 16 November, prosecutors said they would ask the Supreme Court to strip Arévalo, Vice President-elect Karin Herrera, and other members of Semilla of immunity from prosecution for damages resulting from a 2022 protest at a public university over the election of a new rector, claiming Arévalo made posts on Twitter encouraging students to take over the university.
[36] In March 2022, Semilla officials and other opposition parties were proponents of a legislative proposal to urge president Alejandro Giammattei to take measures against the Russian government for its invasion of Ukraine.
[40] In 2020, the wife of Fuentes Knight, Ana Cristina Castañeda, complained of the limited support that the party gave her husband after the case he was involved in, and expressed disagreement with the leadership of the company.
[41] In February 2021, founder Suzanne Brichaux and pre-candidate for deputy for Sacatepéquez in 2019 was expelled from the party on grounds that she had committed usurpation of functions and violations of internal regulations.
[43] In 2022, deputy Luis Fernando Pineda Lemus left Semilla on good terms and joined the right-wing Visión con Valores party.
[44] In March 2023, the party filed a complaint with the Electoral Crimes Prosecutor's Office of the Public Ministry in the case of a forged signature when it was still a committee in formation.
"[46] On 12 July 2023, the Supreme Electoral Court made the results official and confirmed that Torres and Arévalo would compete in the second round, however, at the same time, prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche of the Public Ministry announced that, at the request of the Special Prosecutor's Office Against Impunity, Judge Fredy Orellana suspended the legal personality of the Semilla Movement due to an alleged case of false signatures of members for the formation of the political party and ordered the electoral court to cancel the political party.
[49] Demonstrations were also called to request the resignation of Attorney General María Consuelo Porras, Prosecutor Curruchiche and Judge Orellana.
[50] Subsequently, Arévalo and his vice presidential candidate, Karin Herrera, were present at the demonstration and filed a criminal complaint against prosecutor Curruchiche and Judge Orellana.
[52] Given the chaos caused by the judicialization of the elections, various national and international actors denied the allegation of electoral fraud and stated that the results coincided with their observations.
[53][54][55] In a bipartisan statement, the United States Congress asked President Joe Biden to impose sanctions against those responsible for "threatening democracy" in Guatemala and particularly expressed their concern about the actions against Arévalo's candidacy.
[56] Around twenty former conservative presidents of Spain and Latin America issued a joint statement in which they condemned the attempt to disqualify Arévalo and his political party,[57] and compared it to the recent disqualification of the Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.
[59] The Public Prosecutor's Office defended itself by stating that they have no intention of "interfering" or "disabling" the participation of the candidates and that their actions comply with the law.