GUATEMALA* CITY, June 5: Congress was set to elect a new president Saturday, after the vice president's claim on the post was opposed by demonstrators in the streets the Constitutional Court, and the powerful military, reports AP.

The court ruled late Friday, that Vice President Gustavo Esplna Salguero had been a 'co-participant In ousted president Jorge Serrano's power grab. Serrano had dissolved the Supreme Court and Congress, ruling by decree for eight days before the military toppled him Tuesday.

With Espina thus constitutionally disqualified, the court gave Congress 24 hours to find Serrano's successor. Jose Lobo Dubon, president of Congress, called for the 116-seat legislature to convene before midday Saturday to vote on nominations for the presidency.

Espina, apparently with military backing, had declared he was assuming the presidency on Wednesday, the day Serrano fled into exile. But Congress blocked his swearing-in.

The rebellious Congress was backed by thousands of demonstrators and nobel peace prize winner Rigoberta Menchu, Guatemala’s most prominent human rights activist Menchu, had said Espina's bid was 'a military coup with a civilian

The military continues to have great influence after ruling for decades. When Serrano took office in 1991, he was the first elected civilian president to succeed another in more than 150 years of Guatemalan history.

It remained uncertain whether the legislature could assemble the 79 members, or necessary two thirds-vote, to chose a new interim president to serve out Serrano's term, which ends in January 1996.