She recently divorced President Alvaro Colom and Guatemalan law forbids close relatives of the president from running for office.

The court's decision on Monday uphold a lower-court ruling that the presidential couple's divorce was a ruse aimed at getting around the law.

Sandra Torres had filed her ballot application by Monday's deadline, and continues to hold campaign events.

Her last legal recourse is to appeal to the country's highest court to allow her on the ballot. Guatemala's Constitutional Court is the final court of appeal.