Mexico elections voting irregularities
By Adina Moloman
Sources: The Guardian, The Washington Post, El Pais
Mexico manufacturing and in a good part the maquiladora industry awaits the certification of the national election result of last Sunday. After preliminary results Mexico’s presidential elections were impugned. In spite of that, the Chairman of IFE declared elections were clean, transparent and without irregularities.
According to the preliminary official vote count, Enrique Pena Nieto won Sunday’s presidential election, representing the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.
López Obrador, the second place candidate, again claimed that there were widespread irregularities during the election process and with the help of his supporters where counting irregularities in about 113,000 of the nation’s 143,000 polling stations.
People in Mexico are disheartened at these elections and are cooperating by sharing knowledge of irregularities.
Irregularities mentioned: vote-buying, voters receiving gift cards to shop at a grocery store chain, Soriana, (conditioned on a vote in favor of PRI), ballot rigging, many voters are insisting that national Television conglomerates and other major news/media showed favored to their candidate Peña Nieto.
Different group feel embolden as they are living in an era when they have the tools and evidences to demand for a real democracy.
Social media as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook is being used as a tool to share videos, pictures and other such evidence of irregularities. Ordinary citizens documented on their phones, the questionable activities in progress and have posted them on the Internet.
Even with the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) announcing Tuesday that it will recount some 50,000 electoral ballot packages – almost a third of the presidential vote, it won’t be easy to impugn and invalidate the elections.
A protest with thousands of people took place in Mexico City against alleged voting irregularities in the country’s presidential election; and a national protest is organized for this Saturday in all major cities of Mexico.
On the other hand Peña Nieto said he was legitimately elected, celebrating his victory, and also he assures that he will rule the country based on democratic principles.
The settling of the disputes will allow the Peña Nieto administration to begin is transitional service team and project his vision on improving Mexico’s manufacturing industry by en large dominated by the Maquiladora Sector.
