Electoral Fraud in México

Mexican Electoral Fraud Wins

2006-09-05T12:29:00.000-07:00

Felipe Calderón is President Elect.

"...Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
Where justice is a game.
Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise..."

Bob Dylan

Mexican general election 2006 controversies

2006-09-05T12:24:00.000-07:00

Wikipedia Current event

The results of the Mexican general election of July 2, 2006, were controversial and contested. According to Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), the initial "Quick Count" was too close to call and when the "Official Count" was complete, Felipe Calderón of the conservative National Action Party (PAN) had won by a difference of 243,934 votes (or 0.58%). The runner-up, Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the left-of-center Alliance for the Good of All (PRD, PT, Convergence), immediately challenged the results and has led massive marches, protests, and acts of civil disobedience in Mexico City. On August 9, while protests continued to expand, a partial recount was undertaken by election officials after being ordered to do so by the country's Federal Electoral Court (TEPJF); the court found "sufficient evidence of reported irregularities at about nine per cent of the polling stations."[1]
Nevertheless, the same court, after having made a partial recount, decided that the election was fair and ruled that Felipe Calderón is President Elect.

More than 800 photographs of the rallies that have been attended by millions of participants in the past weeks in Mexico City can be seen at the following locations:

[07 30 2006]Third Assembly
[07 16 2006]Second Assembly
[07 08 2006]First Assembly

Mexican Electoral Fraud Wins

2006-09-01T13:40:00.000-07:00

It was no surprise on that the partial recount of about a "Cherrypicked" 9% of the ballots cast in the disputed presidential election held on July 2 showed ruling National Action Party (PAN) candidate still the winner.

The Mexico's Supreme Electoral Tribunal (aka "Trife") ignored the need for a total ballot recount demanded and instead relied on the small partial one it chose in areas of known Calderon strength making it unlikely from the start it would find enough of a change in the final tally to change the election result. Lopez Obrador aides cited evidence of overwhelming fraud in at least one-third of the polling stations.

So TRIFE invented a "decision" ignoring the juggernaut of facts, audio and video evidence, and public outrage. It shows Trife illegitimate, corrupt, and partisan as well.

Mexico’s Election Fraud is winning

Was the Mexican Election Stolen? Questions Raised Over Results From Preliminary Recount

2006-08-28T07:12:00.000-07:00

Mark Weisbrot, co-director at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC. Democracynow.org

MARK WEISBROT: ... But either way, that's a lot, and it's clearly going only one way. In other words, the recount showed that only one side had votes that were thrown out in the partial recount. Again, another very big reason to do a full recount and another reason, I think, why they're not releasing the results, because if everybody got to see the results of this partial recount, they might be forced -- they might have public pressure to do a full recount....

Greg Palast talks about the elections in Mexico

2006-08-23T14:47:00.000-07:00

www.gregpalast.com

Palast, who has led investigations for government on three continents, is among the Top Ten journalists in the world
“The greatest investigative reporter of our time” - Tribune magazine

2006-08-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

By Franc Contreras BBC News, Mexico City

...Some have called outgoing president Vicente Fox a "traitor to democracy", allowing his party's candidate, Felipe Calderon, to win. The row highlights the cynicism most Mexicans feel towards their politicians and institutions.
One woman in the crowd told me, "What do we have to lose by being here? Our pay checks barely allow us to pay the rent and keep our children fed and clothed."...

Video: Legislators injured in police assault

2006-08-18T08:34:00.000-07:00

Mexican riot police used tear gas and clubs to drive back legislators and supporters in a pacific protest over electoral fraud outside Mexican Congress on Monday (August 14)

URL Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgehkQBJDxI

The fraud that took place in the July 2 election appears to have been widespread and varied in its forms. Ballot boxes from PRD strongholds have been found in a rubbish dump and electoral officials have been caught burning ballots. Numerous anomalies in the tallying of the votes have been pointed out, and suspicion has fallen on the software used by the IFE
The complaint the PRD submitted to the IFE presented evidence of fraud taking place at around 72,000 of the 130,000 polling places. Lopez Obrador demanded that the IFE order a complete recount of the vote.

Protests have taken place around the country. The largest have been in Mexico City, growing from around half a million on July 8, to a million on July 16 and possibly more than 2 million on July 30.

Legislators injured in police assault

2006-08-15T15:18:00.000-07:00

Mexican riot police used tear gas and clubs to drive back legislators and supporters in a pacific protest outside Mexican Congress on Monday in the first violent clash over a fiercely contested presidential election.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

"They hit us all, they fired gas at us. I still haven't recovered from the tear gas," Elias Moreno, a senator of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD.

1,621,187 votes without sustain

2006-08-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

The coalition led by the Democratic Revolution Party, which supports Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has officially demanded a full accounting on 72,197 polling stations, representing 55.33% of the polling stations nationwide. This demand is based on findings of various inconsistencies and arithmetic mistakes in the Presidential Election tally sheets. According to the Coalition, these tally sheets contain 1,621,187 votes without sustain, distributed as shown below:

The number of votes at stake is almost seven times the officially reported difference between the National Action candidate and the Coalition candidate (almost 244,000 votes). This should be a good enough reason for the Electoral Tribunal to approve a nationwide recount.

An aproximate calculation of the number of votes received in these 72,197 polling stations can be made, based on the average values for the Presidential Election reported by the Federal Electoral Institute. According to FEI, the average number of voters per polling station was 547 (71,374,373 voters distributed among 130,488 authorized polling stations). The nationwide average of attendance was 58.55%. Based on these figures, around 23,122,425 votes were received in the polling places whose tally sheets contain arithmethic mistakes. On the other hand, the Electoral Tribunal has hitherto authorized only the recount of ballots in 9.07% of the polling stations, that is 11,389 of them, accounting for 3,791,658 votes only.

Under these circumstances it is absolutely legitimate to demand a full accounting of the Presidential Election, as has been shown in several polls, with up to 72% of the participants supporting this demand, not to mention the more than 2 million people who attended the massive rally on July 30 in Mexico City, and the ones promoting the full recount both in other mexican cities and abroad.

Mexico has beefed up security at Mexico City airport, power plants and oil refineries in case the leftist protests spin out of control. The court has to decide by September 6 who is the definitive winner of the vote, which split Mexico along class lines

We need the goodwill and support of the international community.
Full data nationwide (spanish)

Recounting Our Way to Democracy

2006-08-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

Editorial, at nytimes.com
"... This is simply insufficient for a national election where the margin was less than one percentage point — and where the tribunal itself acknowledged evidence of arithmetic mistakes and fraud, noting that there were errors at nearly 12,000 polling stations in 26 states."
"... We need the goodwill and support of those in the international community with a personal, philosophical or commercial interest in Mexico to encourage it to do the right thing and allow a full recount that will show, once and for all, that democracy is alive and well in this republic."

Mexico Trembles Under Third Demonstration: The yellow "people tsunami"

2006-08-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

By Raymundo Castillo Bautista, Ohmynews.com
"... this, the third demonstration with more than 2 million people, continues the fight for democracy as a "peaceful civil resistance"
Jorge Saldana, a Mexican journalist, says this movement is: "a country whose souls have awaken."

Evidence of Election Fraud Grows in México

2006-08-07T14:43:00.000-07:00

By Chuck Collins and Joshua Holland, AlterNet.
"... a growing body of credible evidence from mainstream Mexican journalists, independent election observers and respected scholars indicates that an attempt was made to deliver the presidency to Calderón. It includes a pattern of irregularities at the polls, interference by the ruling party and some very suspicious statistical patterns in the "official" results."

Election Theft in Mexico?

2006-08-04T12:44:00.000-07:00

Ian Welsh's Full Text / Agonist.org
"All day and night –see the accompanying graph– three candidates remained with their totals in a straight line, but in the final stretch only Obrador and Calderón percentages diverged from the consistency of the first two-thirds of the tallies."

...Progressives of the World the Way Forward

2006-08-03T15:08:00.000-07:00

By Jonathan David at PhillyIMC
"The July 2nd election and the events that have followed it have been arguably the most important news of the year 2006 outside the Middle East. Progressives around the world need to be paying attention. The political struggle unfolding in Mexico right now is showing the global movement for social justice how to move forward..."
"AMLO has shown that he will not simply roll over and accept the probable electoral fraud, as Al Gore and John Kerry did in the most recent presidential elections in the US."

900,000 march to demand recount in Mexican presidential race

2006-08-03T14:56:00.000-07:00

Associated Press
Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched through the Mexican capital on Sunday to demand a manual recount in the disputed presidential election, led by a leftist candidate who says fraud cost him the presidency.

GRAND THEFT MEXICO

2006-08-03T14:51:00.000-07:00

Greg Palast in London
Matt Pascarella in Mexico City

Monday, 3 July - The Guardian
"As in Florida in 2000, and as in Ohio in 2004, the exit polls show the voters voted for the progressive candidate. The race is “officially” too close to call. But they will call it - after they steal it..."

Podcast: KPFT Interviews Matt Pascarella on Mexican Election

2006-08-03T14:46:00.000-07:00

Matt Pascarella discusses the Mexican Election with Pokey Andersen of KPFT’s Sunday talk-show, The Monitor.

Matt Pascarella is an award winning researcher and producer for investigative journalist Greg Palast. He was on assignment in Mexico covering the Presidential Election.

Mexico and Florida have more in common than heat

2006-08-03T14:23:00.000-07:00

By Greg Palast
"Blank ballots are rarely random. In Florida in 2000, 88% of the supposedly blank ballots came from African-American voting districts - that is, they were cast by Democratic voters. In Mexico, the supposed empty or unreadable ballots come from the poorer districts where the challenger's Party of the Democratic Revolution (PDR) is strongest...."