The recall election in Oaxaca—the first of its kind in any state in the country—was plagued by irregularities, including the Oaxaca State Electoral and Citizen Participation Institute’s (IEEPCO) vote-counting system crashing at least three times. After the system was restored, a noticeable increase in votes was reported in favor of the Morena party governor, Salomón Jara Cruz, according to complaints from citizens and representatives of the Labor Party (PT) and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).
Dante Montaño, who served as the PT’s representative to the IEEPCO two days prior, reported that the first system crash occurred around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday; the second around 1:00 a.m. on Monday; and a third at 7:00 a.m.
The serious issue, she emphasized, is that in each of these three irregularities, which were reported to the General Council of the IEEPCO (Oaxaca State Electoral Institute) and subsequently resolved, the number of votes in favor of Jara Cruz increased when the system was restored.
During the IEEPCO’s permanent session, Councilor Zaira Hipólito explained that it was not a system failure, but rather that the website crashed due to high user traffic. However, she clarified that the flow of information transmitted by the district councils never stopped, so there was no impact on the vote count.
For his part, Governor Salomón Jara, after the voting concluded, called the social organizations and the teachers of Section 22 of the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE) “fools” for considering the citizen participation process for the recall election a “farce.”
More than 30 human rights, land, and territory advocacy groups, as well as Section 22 of the CNTE teachers’ union, stated that this activity had no other purpose than “forced legitimization and a partisan use of democratic institutions.”
In response, at 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, the Morena party governor, surrounded by members of his cabinet and extended cabinet, delivered a message from the government palace in which he denounced those who opposed the voting.
Jara Cruz declared: “A fool is he who thinks the people are fools, a fool is he who thinks the people of Oaxaca can be manipulated or deceived.”
The governor then went to the main entrance of the building to announce that, as of 10:00 p.m., 55 percent of the polling stations had been counted, and the results favored him with 58.31 percent of the votes in favor of him remaining in office.
According to the Ieepco website, as of 11:00 PM, the overall count was 3.6590 percent complete. The electoral body also noted that there was no Preliminary Electoral Results Program or quick count, making it necessary to wait for the final tally.
Dante Montaño described the irregularities that occurred during the process as “extremely serious.” He pointed out that threats, intimidation, and attempts to bribe approximately 800 poll watchers from the Labor Party (PT) were documented at the polling stations alone.
This, coupled with the fact that the Ieepco did not allow party representatives on the district councils, is where he believes the alleged fraud took place.
Benjamín Robles Montoya, the PT’s National Commissioner in Oaxaca, announced that they will appeal to the courts and other relevant bodies to challenge the process, citing numerous irregularities, including ballot stuffing, vote buying, and voter transportation.
To make matters worse, the campaign materials used to promote votes for Jara Cruz were displayed in the streets until at least the day before the election, which constitutes an electoral offense.
The national commissioner of the Labor Party (PT) stated that the Morena party governor spent between one and one and a half billion pesos to secure his position.
The final count showed a voter turnout of 29.9097 percent, totaling 935,500 votes. Of these, 58.8214 percent, or 550,274 votes, went to Salomón Jara, while 38.1641 percent, or 357,025 votes, were against him, and 3.0145 percent (28,201 votes) were invalidated.
Source: jornada
