Guatemala court orders re-do of candidate list for attorney general

Guatemala's Constitutional Court on Thursday froze the process to select the country's next attorney general and ordered the nominating commission and president to revise the list of finalists.



The ruling effectively jeopardizes the list of six finalists selected earlier this week by a commission of jurists, in which current Attorney General Consuelo Porras, who has been sanctioned by foreign governments, did not make the cut.



In its ruling, the court instructed the commission to “review again the scores given to all applicants who had held the position of judge and assign the corresponding score to each one,” forcing a reassessment of the candidates.



The court said that time served as a judge does not count toward the required years of legal practice for the post, which could affect the eligibility and ranking of several contenders.