Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Thousands of observers, including 558 foreigners, will monitor Sunday’s elections

Thousands of independent observers, including more than 500 foreigners, will monitor this Sunday’s municipal, state and federal elections in a bid to ensure they are conducted freely and fairly.

Almost 3 million representatives of political parties will also be on hand to watch over the voting and vote-counting process in what will be the biggest elections in Mexico’s history.

As of last Friday, the National Electoral Institute (INE) had certified almost 19,000 citizen poll watchers who declared that they don’t have any affiliation with parties contesting the elections.

Almost 2,200 were registered in Jalisco, more than any other state, while Chiapas ranks second with over 1,700 certified scrutineers. In third place is Mexico City, where more than 1,300 citizens are set to oversee the vote.

Scrutiny of the elections in Baja California Sur, San Luis Potosí and Colima will be far less intense, with just 25, 61 and 62 citizen observers, respectively, having been certified by the INE.

The electoral authority also approved 558 requests from foreigners to observe the elections, at which voters will elect 500 federal deputies, 15 state governors, state lawmakers and thousands of municipal representatives including mayors and councilors.

The international election observers will come from 41 countries, including the United States, Guatemala and Belize, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Jamaica. Some international observers will represent the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean, a multilateral non-government organization.

Political parties and independent candidates sought to register some 2.98 million poll-watchers, the newspaper El Economista reported.

Metropolitan Autonomous University political scientist and researcher Jorge Javier Romero said the participation of citizen observers in elections nowadays is the result of a civil society campaign during times when the INE’s predecessor, the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), was not autonomous.

The Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, was in power for the vast majority of the 20th century and implemented a quasi-dictatorship that included guaranteed election victories.

In the times prior to the IFE’s autonomy, members of civil society repeatedly called for electoral observation beyond that carried out by the political parties, Romero told El Economista. They eventually got their way.

“Civil society has played an important role in making the electoral process in Mexico more transparent,” the academic said.

“[Today] there is no administrative or political process in Mexico that is more transparent than the elections; in our country, the elections are transparent from beginning to end — party representatives participate in every stage, [and] all the information is public,” Romero said before again emphasizing the importance of citizens’ observation.

“In Mexico, there has been no electoral fraud since we’ve had an autonomous electoral body watching over the elections,” he said.

The INE will set up more than 163,000 polling booths for Sunday’s elections, institute president Lorenzo Córdova said Wednesday, adding that more than 1.4 million people will man them. There are almost 93 million registered voters.

Polls suggest that a coalition led by the ruling Morena party is on track to retain its majority in the lower house of federal Congress, but the race has tightened in recent weeks.

Source: El Economista (sp) 

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
Abstract image of Mexican peso bills and US dollar bills in a chaotic pile

Mexico’s peso falls yet again as Trump cabinet picks spark concern

0
The peso fell against the US dollar for a third consecutive day on Tuesday, reflecting continued uncertainty about a Trump presidency in the U.S.
The Rio Grande river winding into the mountains of Big Bend National Park in Texas

As Mexico falls behind on Rio Grande debt, US and Mexico reach water treaty agreement

0
The provisions adjust an 80-year treaty sharing Rio Grande water that'll let Mexico get out from behind its water debt to the U.S.
Tractor trailer with undocumented male migrants inside being ordered out by a man with a National Immigration Institute uniform. Near him are other migrants already outside the truck and a Mexican soldier in a military gear and holding an automatic weapon stands guard.

In 1 day, authorities find hundreds of migrants in Chihuahua, Oaxaca

0
In a 24-hour period, Mexican authorities took into custody a total of 331 migrants in Oaxaca and Chihuahua, some of whom were being held for ransom.