Reports of fraud continue
in State of Mexico gubernatorial election
By
Alex González
14 June 2017
The political battle between the ruling Party of Institutional
Revolution (PRI) and the “left” Movement for National Regeneration (Morena)
continues to intensify after the State of Mexico
gubernatorial election. While official records show the PRI beat
Morena by less than three percentage points, widespread reports of voting fraud
cast doubt on the PRI’s narrow victory.
IMMANENT COLLAPSE THE PENA-NIETO
REGIME AND FALL TO THE LA RAZA DRUG
CARTELS ON AMERICAN OPEN AND
UNDEFENDED BORDERS.
More significant still, a
former Mexican official, Jorge Castañeda, threatened to unleash
Mexican cartels onto the U.S. to retaliate for deportations of illegal
immigrants and the construction of a border wall.
“Mexico in a country whose
four wealthiest billionaires
control as much wealth as the bottom half of the
population—
the 65 million that live in poverty (which includes 13 million
living in extreme poverty)—and where the top 10 percent as a
whole accounts for
67 percent of Mexico’s national wealth.”
As Mexico’s most populous state, the State of Mexico gubernatorial
election was a major political affair. The state has been ruled by the PRI for
88 years and is the home state of current president Enrique Peña Nieto. Due to
Peña Nieto’s deep unpopularity, the election was seen as a referendum on the
PRI’s rule, as well as an assessment of forces for Andres Manuel López Obrador,
Morena’s leader. López Obrador, who was a presidential candidate in 2006 and
2012, is currently leading numerous polls for next year’s presidential
election.
The night of the June 4 election, the PRI’s candidate, Alfredo del
Mazo, was declared the winner with 33.7 percent of the vote, while Morena’s
Delfina Gómez received 30.8 percent of the vote. Notably, the number of votes
nullified the night of the election is greater than the difference in votes
between the two candidates. A recount of less than four thousand votes a few
days after the election did not significantly alter the results between the two
candidates.
Even with its narrow victory, the election marked a historic
defeat for the PRI. The party obtained only half of the votes it did in the
prior gubernatorial election, even though it mobilized its local, state, and
federal apparatus. Several national media outlets have openly speculated that
the PRI committed fraud as an act of desperation to secure the governorship for
Del Mazo, Peña Nieto’s distant cousin and the son and grandson of two former
governors.
The election took place under conditions of widespread
intimidation against Morena voters, as well as accounts of vote buying, illegal
campaign spending, and inconsistencies in tallying up the vote. Prior to the
election, the Prosecutor's Office for Electoral Offenses (Fepade) received
formal complaints of 55 “massive events” in the State of Mexico in which social
programs were doled out in exchange of a copy of the attendee’s voter
registration card. In one of these complaints, Morena representatives allege
debit cards containing 3,000 pesos (US $160) were given out at every PRI
campaign event between September and March. Some of these events were addressed
by current members of the Peña Nieto administration, including the secretary of
education and the secretary of urban development.
Representatives from Morena and the center “left” Party for
Democratic Revolution (PRD) have also presented formal complaints to the
National Electoral Institute (INE) indicating Del Mazo topped the legal
campaign spending limit by over 40 percent. Surpassing campaign spending limits
is cause to declare an election null if the leading candidate won by less than
5 percentage points, which is the case with Del Mazo’s narrow three percentage
point victory.
Various media accounts have also shown irregularities in the
digital counting system used to project results for the entire state the night
of the election. The tool, known as the Program for Preliminary Electoral
Results (PREP), inconsistently allocated votes to the PRI and took votes away
from Morena that did not correspond to official ballot results. In addition,
several districts show a larger vote count than the number of voters who reside
in that district.
Allegations of intimidation also implicate police, likely
operating with cartels. A video shared by Morena shows several state police
delivering false subpoenas to Morena members by the Office of the Prosecutor of
Electoral Crimes, reportedly to keep them away from the ballot box. A local INE
official in the State of Mexico said he was called at three in the morning the
day before the election in an act of “electoral terrorism.” Civil society
organization #NiUnFraudeMas reported a woman was repeatedly called by the
military with death threats against her family if she did not vote for the PRI.
Since the election, López Obrador has continued to make calls for
a full recount of the vote, as well as for annulling results in key
municipalities. While the state-wide voter participation rate was 52 percent,
in five districts this number ranged between 64 and 66 percent for the PRI and
54 percent for Morena. Annulling these five districts would flip the results of
the election in favor of Gómez.
Reiterating accusations of direct interference by the Peña Nieto
administration, López Obrador stated: “[In these districts] the PRI bought most
of their votes, they used the federal, state, and municipal public budget; here
is where the team directed by Peña Nieto from [the presidential mansion] Los
Pinos operated.” The Party for National Action (PAN) and the Workers Party (PT)
are also calling for annulling the state election.
The electoral court system has not signaled it intends to mount
any substantial investigation, let alone annul the state election. On June 8,
the Upper Chamber of the Electoral Tribunal of the Judiciary (TEPJF) rejected
claims that delivering social programs in massive events in the State of Mexico
constituted vote buying, supporting an earlier ruling by the State of Mexico
Electoral Tribunal (TEEM). Before the election, the INE refused to step in to
provide additional oversight the day of the vote, even as it was clear the
results between the PRI and Morena were within the margin of error.
López Obrador and Morena continue to denounce any independent mass
mobilization. In a state that houses 16 million people and Mexico’s second
largest economy, Morena has called for no mass protests or demonstrations,
despite mass anger among the population and the fact that this election had the
highest voter participation rate in the state’s history.
Instead, Morena is appealing to the court system to “clean the
election.” “The people decided in favor of Morena and so we will carry out a
peaceful protest. We will not have any blockages or marches, what we are going
to carry out is a thank you tour,” stated Gómez.
López Obrador is no stranger to the electoral court system. In
2006, he ran as a candidate for president with the PRD and lost by just 0.58
percent against the PAN’s Felipe Calderón. Even though the PRD alleged
irregularities in over 30 percent of the country’s polling stations, the
Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) granted the election to Calderón.
After losing to Peña Nieto in 2012, López Obrador launched a
formal complaint to the TEJF presenting evidence of vote buying, illegal
campaign donations, ballots already marked in favor of the PRI, and the
surpassing of campaign spending limits by over 1000 percent. The IFE conducted
a partial recount only to confirm the original result.
Yet, López Obrador is now appealing to the same discredited
institutions that he alleges have now twice cost him the presidency. This is
not a personal failing, but reflects the class character of López Obrador and
Morena. His is a policy of a “moral and cultural revolution” that is deeply
hostile to a genuine mobilization of the working class to fight for a social
revolution.
The outcome of the State of Mexico gubernatorial election should
serve as a warning to the working class ahead of next year’s presidential
election: neither Morena nor the court system will fight to defend their
interests.
In an indication of the type of state repression that can be
expected by the institutions Morena is appealing to, a peaceful demonstration
by 500 people organized independently of Morena outside of the State of Mexico
electoral offices was met with 100 state police officers.
POVERTY
ROBERT RECTOR:
Importing poverty…. WE ALSO IMPORT ALL THEIR
CRIMINALS
“The
lifetime costs of Social Security and Medicare benefits of illegal
immigrant
beneficiaries of President Obama’s executive amnesty
would be well over a
trillion dollars, according to Heritage
Foundation expert Robert Rector’s
prepared testimony for a House
panel obtained in advance by Breitbart News.”
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