The president-elect’s political party held a demonstration yesterday to protest alleged electoral fraud in the state of Puebla.

The national leader of the Morena party, Yeidckol Polevnsky Gurwitz, led a march in the city of Puebla, accompanied by her party’s gubernatorial candidate, Miguel Barbosa Huerta, who lost the election by 122,000 votes.

As many as 5,000 party members and supporters joined the march to the city’s zócalo to declare that Barbosa was the legitimate winner of the July 1 election.

Polevnsky stated that the party’s priority is to sue and avert electoral fraud, and that president-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador has instructed his party to not let its guard down.

“The most important thing for him is this fight, this defense. Andrés Manuel’s full support is in favor of Miguel Barbosa for the governorship of Puebla,” said the Morena leader.

Barbosa declared that he would not be intimidated and that he would continue with the legal battle to overthrow the electoral results that gave National Action Party (PAN) candidate Martha Erika Alonso Hidalgo the governor’s seat.

He said the election was plagued with flaws, while party official Horacio Duarte said there were sufficient legal elements to confirm that fraud had taken place. Duarte, who represents Morena on the National Electoral Institute, has previously accused PAN Governor José Antonio Gali Fayad of interfering in the electoral process.

Barbosa added that he has “the best lawyers” and that he will prove that electoral fraud took place, ensuring his supporters that a new election will be organized in January or February.

Alonso was declared the winner with 1,153,079 votes, or 38% of the total. Barbosa polled 1,031,043 votes, or 34%.

The elections for state Congress saw a different outcome. There, Morena won 33% of the vote and the PAN 20.5%

Source: El Universal (sp)