Country's congress to weigh lifting president's immunity

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September 4, 2017 11:56 PM

Guatemalas congress is to decide whether to lift the immunity of President Jimmy Morales to face corruption allegations after the supreme court on Monday referred the issue to lawmakers.

At least 105 of the 158 deputies in the unicameral congress need to vote in favor of the measure for it to pass.

Analysts say it is unlikely enough lawmakers will back the vote, given the alliances Morales' conservative National Convergence Front has.

Morales is under investigation by the UN International Committee Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) and Guatemalan prosecutors for allegedly failing to declare $1 million in campaign funding to his party for his election in 2015.

He sparked a storm August 27 by ordering the head of the Colombian CICIG, Ivan Velasquez, out of the country, two days after applying to have Morales' immunity lifted.

But Guatemala's top court overruled the order and the CICIG is forging on with its probe.

The CICIG is widely respected in Guatemala. It helped Guatemalan prosecutors investigate a corruption scandal that toppled the previous president, Otto Perez, in 2015, paving the way to the election of Morales, a former TV comic with no previous political experience who campaigned on anti-corruption promises.

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