Growing accusations of vote-buying in Mexico’s presidential election - The Washington Post

By Associated Press, Published: July 2 | Updated: Tuesday, July 3, 3:36 PM

MEXICO CITY — Thousands of people rushed to stores on Tuesday to redeem pre-paid gift cards they said were given them by the party that won Mexico’s presidency, inflaming accusations that the election was marred by massive vote-buying.
At least a few cardholders were angry, complaining they didn’t get as much as promised, or that their cards weren’t working. Neighbors at one store in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Mexico City said the unusually large crowds had prevented them from doing their daily shopping.

Some of those lined up to use their gift cards said they got them for supporting the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, whose candidate Enrique Pena Nieto won Sunday’s election, according to the preliminary official vote count. Some wore red T-shirts and baseball caps with Pena Nieto’s name printed in white.
Maria Salazar, a 20-year-old university student, came with her 70-year-old father, Antonio Salazar, to cash three gift cards.
“They gave us the cards in the name of the PRI and Rep. Hector Pedroza (a PRI congressional candidate), and they said they were counting on our vote,” Maria Salazar said outside the store, as she carried plastic shopping bags packed with toilet paper, cooking oil, rice, saltine crackers and instant noodle soups.
Her father carried another two packed grocery bags and her 8-year-old nephew carried another.
“They told us they were worth 500 pesos ($37.50), but when we got to the check-out, they were only worth 100 rotten pesos, ($7.50)” Salazar said.
Both she and her father said they had been told to turn in a photocopy of their voter ID card in order to get the gift cards.
Another woman interviewed outside the same Soriana grocery store also complained her card had only 100 pesos ($7.50) in credit.
“For helping them with votes and all ... they gave us a card for supporting them, and all that for 100 pesos,” said the woman, who gave only her first name, Josefina, for fear of reprisals. She said she got the card for supporting Pena Nieto, but complained that “100 pesos lasts you about five minutes.”
Inside the store, such long lines formed at card-reading machines as people tried to find the balances on their cards. Some grew angry and shouted insults against Pena Nieto.
Regular shoppers were vexed at the long lines. “I was going to buy bread right now, but you can see, the lines are tremendous, you can’t even get in,” said Maria Garcia Lobato.
Pena Nieto’s campaign and the PRI press office said they had no immediate comment, and the press representative of the Soriana grocery store chain did not immediately respond to phone calls. In the final days of the campaign, PRI officials denied similar allegations that the party distributed pre-paid cash cards from a local bank.
On the Friday before the vote, the leftist Democratic Revolution Party — whose candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador came in second — issued a statement accompanied by photos of dozens of the Soriana cards, saying they had been distributed by a PRI-affiliated union, and it filed a complaint to electoral authorities.

Página 2 de 2

Under Mexican election law, giving voters gifts is not a crime unless the gift is meant to condition or influence their votes. Also, the cost of such gifts must be reported to authorities, and cannot exceed campaign spending limits. Violations of those rules are usually punished with fines, but are not usually considered ground for annulling the elections.
On Tuesday, Alfredo Figueroa, a council member of the oversight agency known as the Federal Electoral Institute, said authorities are investigating the Soriana card complaint. Members of the institute have said they were aware of attempts to engage in vote buying.

Figueroa also said that irregularities in vote tallies may eventually lead to the opening and re-counting of votes from as many as 50,000 polling stations, about one-third of the 143,000 involved in Sunday’s vote.
But on Tuesday, Lopez Obrador said his team had detected irregularities in 113,855 polling places, and called for a much wider recount. “This is a scandal ... They bought millions of votes,” Lopez Obrador said, referring to the PRI. “Clearly, they far exceeded campaign spending limits ... this is a national embarrassment,” he told a news conference.
Lopez Obrador has refused to accept the preliminary vote tallies, saying the election campaign was marred by overspending and favorable treatment for Pena Nieto by Mexico’s semi-monopolized television industry.
Many also questioned why pre-election polls showed Pena Nieto with a double-digit lead, roughly twice as large as the margin he really won by. With 99 percent of the vote tallied in the preliminary count, Lopez Obrador trailed by just six percentage points.
The narrower-than-expected margin is fueling suspicion among Lopez Obrador’s followers about the fairness of the vote, and he refused Monday night to concede defeat, just as he did when he lost a razor-thin race in the 2006 presidential race and set off months of political unrest. Although this time, he has not called his followers into the streets to protest.
Lopez Obrador argued from the start of the campaign that pollsters were manipulating surveys to to promote the idea that the PRI candidate was far out in front.
Pollsters deny that, saying they believe some voters switched to Lopez Obrador in the final week, a period when publication of new polls is banned by law.
Lopez Obrador said he would not accept the preliminary election results reported by the Federal Elections Institute and would wait until Wednesday, when the official results are to be announced, before deciding what he will do.
“We will not accept a fraudulent result,” Lopez Obrador said.

Growing accusations of vote-buying in Mexico’s presidential election - The Washington Post

Lopez Obrador demands recount in Mexican election vote - CNN.com

Mexico City (CNN) -- The leader of Mexico's leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, announced Tuesday that he has asked Mexico's Federal Election Institute for a recount of the ballots cast in Sunday's presidential election.

Lopez Obrador's demand came the day after he said the vote had been "plagued by irregularities."

Election authorities have projected Lopez Obrador as the runner-up in the vote.

Mexico's presumed president-elect, Enrique Peña Nieto, said Monday it was time for his country to leave behind the political rancor of campaign season.

The PRD candidate's declarations echoed comments he made in 2006, when election authorities said the leftist candidate narrowly lost the presidential race to Felipe Calderon. Lopez Obrador claimed election fraud and never conceded, referring to himself afterward as "the legitimate president of Mexico."

At the time, his supporters protested nationwide. In Mexico City, they staged sit-ins and blockades.

In 2006, official results showed him losing by about 240,000 votes (or about 0.6%). He led marches and demonstrations and refused to concede; a partial recount was held.

Felipe Calderon was not declared president-elect until two months after the July election. Lopez Obrador did not accept that decision. A brawl broke out in the legislature before Calderon was scheduled to take the oath on December 1; Calderon sneaked in and out a back door to take the oath and gave the traditional speech not in Congress, but at another location.

On Monday, Lopez Obrador had called on his supporters to wait for the official results. The Federal Election Institute's verification of individual poll results begins Wednesday.

Earlier, Peña Nieto told CNN en Español he was ready to work across party lines to build a better Mexico.

"We have to be constructive and put aside our differences, which are only for competitions and electoral contests," Peña Nieto said Monday. "Yesterday I indicated that (after) this tense and divisive atmosphere, which is natural in all democratic contests, we have to turn the page and move on to enter another chapter, another moment in our political lives, with a willingness and spirit that are constructive and purposeful."

A quick count based on samples from polling stations throughout the country gave Peña Nieto the lead, with between 37.93% and 38.55% of votes, the Federal Election Institute said late Sunday.

On Monday, the presumed president-elect said he had been receiving congratulatory phone calls and messages from world leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama.

Peña Nieto said he was unfazed by the fact that more than 50% of Mexicans had not voted for him.

"We, fortunately, live in democratic conditions with three predominant political forces, and this makes it very hard for any party to have an absolute majority," he told CNN en Español.

The projected victory for Peña Nieto marks a triumphant return to power for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which lost its grip on Mexico's presidency to the conservative National Action Party in 2000.

The Federal Election Institute's projections raised two key questions rooted in Mexico's complicated political past: Has the PRI, a political party that critics accuse of being authoritarian and corrupt, changed its approach? And will supporters of Lopez Obrador protest election results as they have in the past?

Peña Nieto said Sunday night that he was looking forward, not back.

"We are a new generation. There is no return to the past. My government will have its vision based in the future," he told reporters.

On the local level, there may not be many differences between today's PRI and the political party that dominated Mexico for decades, said Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

"What's changed on the national stage is that Mexican citizens have different expectations for their federal government that are going to force the PRI to govern in a different way than it did 20 years ago," he said.

For much of the PRI's rule, the political party controlled not only the presidency, but also national and state legislatures and local governments across the country.

Now, in the country's Senate, a preliminary tally Monday showed the PRI winning only 33 of 128 seats. In the House of Representatives, the PRI had secured more seats than any other party, according to the preliminary tally. But opposition parties combined held a majority of seats.

"Then, the PRI was really a party that included all of Mexico, that had a broad patronage network and tolerated little dissent outside of the party," Selee said. "And the PRI today is going to have to deal with opposition parties that have tasted power, an active citizenry that expects to be involved in major policies decisions, and a very vigilant press that will report on everything that happens."

Weeks before Sunday's vote, criticisms of Peña Nieto and concerns about the PRI's possible return to power fueled a student movement that staged demonstrations throughout the country.

On Monday, outraged students from the group marched in Mexico City. They carried signs that said, "Mexico without PRI" and "Mexico voted, and Peña did not win."

But while critics slam Peña Nieto, the charismatic 45-year-old former governor galvanized fervent support among residents of his home state and party loyalists nationwide.

The Consulta Mitofsky, GEA/ISA and Parametria firms said their exit poll results projected a win for Peña Nieto, with more than 40% of voters saying they cast ballots for the PRI candidate.

Peña Nieto's campaign platform included plans to stop the rise in food prices, promote energy reform, give social security to all Mexicans and reduce violence nationwide.

"He is obviously prepared. There was obviously a dirty war against him," said Martha Rojas Ramos, 58, as she prepared to cast a ballot for Peña Nieto at a Mexico City elementary school on Sunday.

Critics lamenting the possible return of the PRI to power aren't thinking straight, she said.

"That's all in the past," Rojas said. "What's important is that he is young and has all the ability to represent us."

Lopez Obrador demands recount in Mexican election vote - CNN.com

Guerrero suma 21 detenidos por delitos electorales - El Universal

Por haber incurrido en presuntos delitos electorales antes y durante la jornada electoral del primero de julio, 21 personas se encuentran detenidas y enfrentan procesos penales en su contra, informó el titular de la Fiscalía Especializada Para la Atención de los Delitos Electorales (FEPADE) en Guerrero, Jesús Zamora Muñoz.

El funcionario informó que durante el proceso electoral se recibieron 209 denuncias de partidos políticos y ciudadanos, sobre presuntos hechos que se pudieran tipificar como delitos electorales, los cuales ya son investigados por la Fepade Guerrero en coordinación con la Procuraduría General de la República (PGR) y la Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado (PGJE).

Zamora Muñoz dio a conocer que hasta el momento existen 21 personas detenidas por haber incurrido presuntamente en delitos siguientes, mismos que son sujetos a investigación de parte de las autoridades correspondientes.

Detallo que en el municipio de Chilapa, una persona del sexo masculino fue detenida un día antes de la jornada electoral transportando 220 despensas y propaganda política a bordo de una unidad de servicio de transporte publico; en esta misma demarcación el primero de julio fue detenida otra persona introduciendo propaganda de un partido político por debajo de las puertas.

En la comunidad de Santa Cruz, municipio de Huamuxtitlán, fueron detenidos por los pobladores tres personas que repartían sobres con invitaciones para votar por determinado partido político.

Otras cinco personas fueron detenidas por elementos de la policía Municipal de Tetipac, presuntamente por coacción el voto durante la jornada electoral del pasado domingo.

En Acapulco fueron detenidos tres civiles cuando fueron sorprendidos en la colonia Chinameca presuntamente comprando el voto a las personas que emitían su sufragio en la casilla de este asentamiento urbano.

En la comunidad de Hueycantenango, municipio de José Joaquín de Herrera, fueron detenidos por elementos policiacos siete hombres portando cuatro armas de fuego cortas, mismos que no permitían que los ciudadanos emitieran su sufragio.

Por último, un hombre más fue detenido en el municipio de Coyuca de Catalán, región de la Tierra Caliente, por encontrársele seis credenciales de elector en su poder, si poder justificar su portación.

De las 21 personas detenidas, 10 fueron recluidas en diversos Ceresos del estado y sus casos remitidos al juzgado federal por la violación a la ley federal de armas de fuego y explosivos, otros nueve fueron puestos en libertad con reservas de ley, y las otras dos siguen detenidas en tanto se desahogan las investigaciones de su caso.

Zamora Muñoz, precisó que el primero de julio la FEPADE Guerrero recibió 50 denuncias de manera anónima, vía telefónica, a través de internet y por comparecencia de presuntos delitos electorales, los cuales en su mayoría se trataba de la compra y coacción del voto y presencia de personas armadas en las casillas.

Guerrero suma 21 detenidos por delitos electorales - Los Estados - El Universal

Arrasa izquierda en Guerrero; gana senadurías y diputaciones federales - Proceso

CHILPANCINGO, Gro. (apro). Con 98% de las casillas computadas, el Programa de Resultados Electorales Preliminares (PREP) anunció la ventaja de la coalición ‘Movimiento Progresista’ en 46 de los 81 ayuntamientos de la entidad y en 21 de los 28 distritos de mayoría relativa.

El PRI y el Verde Ecologista lograron el triunfo en 32 municipios y siete distritos locales de mayoría relativa, mientras que la preferencia hacia el PAN sólo se manifestó en tres municipios.

Respecto de la elección federal, la tendencia indica que los candidatos de la coalición PRD, PT y Movimiento Ciudadano se llevaron las nueve diputaciones federales y dos de los tres escaños al Senado.

Con estas cifras preliminares, tanto el Instituto Estatal Electoral de Guerrero (IEEG) como el Instituto Federal Electoral (IFE) en la entidad clausuraron sus sesiones permanentes y declararon concluidos los trabajos de la jornada electoral del domingo 1.

Durante la clausura de la sesión, se informó que la participación de los guerrerenses en las elecciones alcanzó casi 60%.

Además, se notificó que para la realización de los comicios locales se instaló el 100% de las casillas (4 mil 791), pero cinco urnas fueron sustraídas por sujetos armados en los municipios de Cuajinicuilapa, región de la Costa Chica, y Chilapa, región de la Montaña.

A nivel local, el próximo miércoles 4 se realizarán los cómputos definitivos en la sede de los 28 distritos electorales y se abrirá la etapa de impugnación para los candidatos inconformes, aunque hasta ahora ningún aspirante o partido político ha anunciado que impugnará alguno de los resultados del proceso electoral.

Encabezará Josefina movimiento con la gente que votó a su favor - Reforma

La candidata presidencial del PAN, Josefina Vázquez Mota, anunció que prevé encabezar un movimiento con la gente que votó a su favor, que son más de 12 millones de electores.

"Esto no es el final, esto es apenas el principio de un gran movimiento que voy a encabezar y al que voy a invitar a poco más de 12 millones que ya se expresaron en las urnas", comentó luego de un desayuno con sus colaboradores de campaña.

En los próximos días, dijo, anunciará las acciones a tomar, pero reiteró que seguirá trabajando por el País.

"Estoy fuerte, estoy firme, me siento muy segura, soy una mujer demócrata, lo demostré el pasado domingo y convoco a que todos actuemos conforme a la democracia. Y voy a ser una mujer que junto con millones de mexicanos vamos a hacer posible que las reformas sí se construyan, sí se den para México", aseguró.

La abanderada blanquiazul desayunó en un hotel de Reforma con Roberto Gil Zuarth, Juan Ignacio Zavala y Max Cortázar.

Al preguntarle sobre la impugnación de los comicios que hará Andrés Manual López Obrador, dijo que si bien las autoridades tendrán que revisar cualquier anomalía, no se puede desconocer el resultado.

"Queda en evidencia quién está del lado de la ley y de la democracia. He reiterado que la democracia requiere demócratas y cada quién tendrá su opinión, pero en todo caso el no reconocer la voluntad de los ciudadanos en las urnas es no ser un demócrata", criticó.

Al Presidente Felipe Calderón lo consideró un Jefe de Estado por salir a reconocer de inmediato el triunfo del priista Enrique Peña Nieto, y confirmó que no se ha reunido con él.

Juan José Belmonte Torres
Enviado desde mi iPad2

La coalición Guerrero nos Une arrasó en 6 de 7 distritos electorales en Acapulco

FRANCISCA MEZA CARRANZA
La coalición Guerrero nos Une (PRD-PT-Movimiento Ciudadano) arrasó con seis de los siete distrito locales en Acapulco, a excepción del distrito 09 que fue ganado por el ex regidor priísta Ricardo Taja Ramírez, con 18 mil 398 votos por encima de los 17 mil 739 que obtuvo Ilich Lozano Herrera.
La coalición Movimiento Progresista, conformada por los mismos partidos a nivel nacional, logró el triunfo en los dos distritos federales, 04 y 09, y la fórmula al Senado.
En el distrito 03, la perredista Avelina López Rodríguez obtuvo al finalizar del conteo 25 mil 937 votos contra los 13 mil 185 del ex regidor priísta José Guerrero; el candidato panista Mariano Dimayuga Terrazas logró 6 mil 728 votos y la del Panal, Laura Pineda 3 mil 612 puntos.
Al finalizar el conteo del distrito 04, la coalición Guerrero nos Une obtuvo 24 mil 384 votos a favor de su candidato Oliver Quiroz Vélez, quien superó al también ex regidor Antonio de los Santos, quien obtuvo 15 mil 820; el candidato panista Aldy Manuel González registró 5 mil 418 votos a favor mientras que el gasolinero Mariano Gutiérrez Otero obtuvo 3 mil 626 votos.
Con 98.06 por ciento del conteo, en el distrito 05 Emilio Ortega Antonio, de Movimiento Ciudadano, obtuvo 19 mil 862 votos contra 13 mil 565 del ex síndico Alejandro Porcayo Rivera; el candidato panista Enrique Sotelo Buila obtuvo 3 mil 800 votos y del Panal, Gerardo Lagarza Alvarado, logró mil 936.
En el distrito 06 la coalición obtuvo 20 mil 018 votos con Germán Farías Silvestre, quien superó a Irving Granda Castro, quien obtuvo 14 mil 417; Anastacio de la Sancha, del Panal, logró mil 533 y Vianey Pérez Olea, del PAN, 3 mil 233. En el distrito 07, Ángel Aguirre Herrera obtuvo 20 mil 822 votos contra los 14 mil 123 del cetemista César Landín Pineda. En ese distrito el panista Sergio Bernal Cruz logró 3 mil 271 y Leobardo Jiménez Reyes, del Panal, mil 452.
En la fórmula al Senado integrada por Armando Ríos Piter y Sofío Ramírez Hernández con 91.79 de votos contabilizados, obtuvo 600 mil 63 contra los 386 mil 895 que registraron René Juárez Cisneros y Claudia Ruiz Massieu.

SEGUIRÁN LLUVIAS PARA LAS SIGUIENTES HORAS EN EL ESTADO DE GUERRERO

Chilpancingo, Guerrero a 2 de julio del 2012.- La Subsecretaría de Protección Civil del estado de Guerrero informó que se esperan condiciones de cielo nublado con refrescamiento de temperaturas para el transcurso de la noche e inicios de la madrugada, así como ambiente cálido sobre la franja costera, Valle de Iguala y región de Tierra Caliente.

 

La dependencia dijo que es previsible una moderada entrada de humedad al interior del estado por aire marítimo tropical de ambos litorales, aunado a esto una línea de vaguada en el centro del país lo que origina potencial de lluvias moderadas a fuertes en la parte de la Montaña y región Norte para el transcurso de la noche, extendiéndose paulatinamente para el resto del estado.

 

De igual manera, para la parte occidental (parte occidental de la Tierra Caliente y de la Costa Grande) se espera aporte de humedad con potencial de lluvias. Además de viento ligero a moderado de componente Sur-Sureste para el resto del estado.

 

Se recomienda a la población precaución ante la ocurrencia de precipitaciones y tormentas locales, que se manifiestan con tormenta eléctrica, fuertes vientos y precipitación intensa que puede ir acompañada de granizo en las partes altas.

 

La Subsecretaría de Protección Civil indicó que es posible que se produzca un reblandecimiento en suelos y laderas inestables, así como en aquellos lugares en donde se han efectuado cortes al terreno.

 

A toda la población se recomienda estar atentos a la difusión meteorológica de esta subsecretaria.