MEXICO: Court disdains evidence of electoral fraud

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(Left) Mexican marine stands guard over ballot boxes tor that has weighted in the election aftermath. Peña Nieto’s PRI won (in round numbers) 19 million votes, López Obrador’s Movimiento Progresista won 16 mil­ lion, and the Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) won 13 million. In other words, the PAN and the PRI candidates combined had twice as many (albeit tainted) counted So when the PAN’s leaders declared that they would not join in the legal challenge to Peña Nieto’s victory, even when they agreed there was evidence of votebuying, it meant that the owners of Mexico considered any move towards seriously questioning the legitimacy of the elections as unacceptable (and probably even dangerous, in the midst of worldwide economic uncer­ The monumentally heavy wheels of the capitalist jus­ tice system will not lose their momentum in favor of the owners of the country, unless sufficient (in fact, an enor­ mous amount of) social energy is applied to make them turn in the opposite direction. The evidence presented by the legal apparatus of the Movimiento Progresista was mercilessly crushed and disdained, without any re­ gard whatsoever for the facts that were known to wide It is public knowledge that the PRI had, indeed, re­ curred to widespread vote buying, as evidenced, among other facts, by the massive quantity of prepaid cards for the Soriana supermarket chain that were given out by PRI operatives (as corroborated by many of the recipi­ the elections on July 1—the ensuing indignation shown ents of these cards). Of course, the TRIFE did not make by hundreds of thousands who marched in the streets any serious efforts to check what practically everybody MEXICO CITY—In a solemn session held on Thursday, of dozens of cities throughout Mexico—and the Aug. 30 Aug. 30, one by one of the seven magistrates of Mexico’s decision by the magistrates? The high judges seemed After the TRIFE’s official recognition of Peña Nieto’s Supreme Federal Electoral Court (TRIFE) read out their not to notice the widespread perception that some­ victory, López Obrador (AMLO) has called for a mas­ pronouncements on the most critical evidence they had thing rotten had gone on during the electoral process, sive rally in Mexico City on Sept. 9. Although this rally received as part of a formal request to invalidate last should be supported, it is not difficult to guess that July’s presidential election process. One by one, they The answer, and explanation, is quite simple. Mexico’s AMLO’s role will be to keep discontent within narrow argued that no substantial proof of large-scale vote political establishment, including the political parties buying had been presented, and threw out the case that and forces that supported López Obrador, decided to What perspectives are there today for forces that rep­ had been opened by the Movimiento Progresista, the al­ go once again down their well-trodden road of either resent the interests of the poor, the exploited, and the liance that had launched Andrés Manuel López Obrador openly or de facto accepting a questionable election. oppressed of Mexico? The Socialist Left Front, the FIS, They would like to proceed as fast as circumstances in which Socialist Action’s sister organization in Mexico, The TRIFE’s building, located in the south of Mexico permit to carry out the power-sharing scheme that will the Liga de Unidad Socialista, participates (as reported City, had been cordoned off by a heavy deployment of ensure vast profits to the huge legal/illegal businesses in the July issue of this newspaper) will try to rally the riot police. Thousands of protesters did turn out, espe­ that finance them, and permit their whole gamut of widest social mobilization possible against electoral cially the next day, Aug. 31, when Enrique Peña Nieto, party operators to enjoy everything from lower govern­ fraud and in favor of a Constitutional Assembly that of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) was could sweep out the corrupt and criminal forces that handed the official winner’s certificate. Although he did López Obrador’s forces and allies, for instance, won have a strong hold on Mexican government institutions, have to arrive by helicopter in order to avoid the mostly the Mexico City government, widely considered as the and that are holding back healthy economic growth and peaceful, mostly young protesters, the size of the crowd was very far from what was needed to present a chal­ Consequently, the Movimiento Progresista did not As Peña Nieto’s inauguration at the beginning of De­ lenge to the state machinery that is ready to use the full call for a single important protest; it was mainly the cember gets closer, democracy, once again, has become extent of its power to install the prepackaged candidate students of the #YoSoy132 movement who took to the the main focus of the aspirations of the Mexican popu­ streets, and carried out a wide range of initiatives prior lation, and the day to day problems of rising food prices The first question that comes to mind is: What hap­ and decreasing standards of living will increasingly pened in between the scandals that broke out just after It is important, however, to consider another fac­ combine with political issues. n as its presidential candidate. of the predominant faction of Mexico’s owners. and that its legitimacy was widely questioned. ment posts up to senate seats and governorships.

second place of power after the presidency.

to the Supreme Federal Electoral Court’s decision. Pedro Pardo / AFP / Getty Images tainty). limits. development.

Rogerio Barbosa / Agence France-Presse during July 4 vote count in Acupulco. votes as the Movimiento Progresista. swaths of the population. knew, and was widely reported by newspapers.