UN General Assembly
1993

share with him their experience and prestige. The events which have taken place in my country since 25 May of this year have marked a fundamental change in the political and institutional life of Guatemala. The breaking-off and subsequent restoration of constitutional order created a situation in which the people of Guatemala, as the country’s only sovereigns, exercised legitimate resistance in order to protect and defend their rights and guarantees enshrined in the political Constitution of the Republic. As one of the principal consequences of these events, with a view to consolidating the restoration of constitutional order so as to reinstall the Congress of the Republic, the political parties formally pledged in writing to purge the membership of that body. Since this commitment has not yet been fulfilled, President Ramiro de León Carpio, as Head of State and the representative of national unity and the interests of the people of Guatemala, in accordance with the Constitution, requested the supreme electoral tribunal to hold a vote so that the citizens could express their will with regard to the