The alleged frauds investigated by the courts threaten to damage the credibility of the system a few days after 28-M | The majority parties, PP and PSOE, avoid talking about reforms of the current electoral legislation
There was a time in Spain when even the dead voted. The ballots were bought and sold, the politicians “pigeonholed” his own by ensuring their position in ways that had little or nothing to do with democracy and even deceased swelled the censuses. More than a century later, terms like “caciquismo” either “pout& rdquor ;, typical of those times, continue to resonate in all electoral processes, but beyond specific anecdotes and conspiracy speeches, their impact had always been relative. Until now.
A few days before the municipal and regional elections, the alleged cases of electoral fraud in Melilla and Mojacar They have given an unexpected turn to the campaign: what began as a one-off scandal and nothing new – in the autonomous city there have already been convictions for manipulation of the vote by mail – threatens to fully hit the credibility of the democratic system itself.
Suspicions began in Melilla after several assaults on postmen to steal vote-by-mail documentation and a disproportionate increase in requests to vote this way. For the people of Melilla, however, the news did not seem so surprising. In 2008were sentenced for buying votes the president of Coalition for Melilla and the leader of PSOE in the city. In 1989, the general elections had to be repeated due to fraud. A man from Melilla sums it up with irony: “Here the votes are worth what the caciques are willing to pay& rdquor ;. The scandal grew until it reached national overtones: the National Police opened an investigation against possible rigging that has ended with ten detainees, including an autonomous government adviser and number three on the Coalition for Melilla list, who have already been released.
Now a new police operation has been added, still open, against the buying of votes in the Almeria municipality of Mojacar for an alleged crime of electoral fraud. The Civil Guard has arrested seven people; two of them were on the PSOE lists.
The failures of voting by mail
Electoral law requires that voters show their identity document up to two times throughout the vote-by-mail process: first, when they request it —either by completing the form at an office or by doing so online—, and then, when the postman delivers the documentation to your home. But the system leave a crack to fraud: You can leave your vote in a mailbox or deliver it to the Post Office without having to identify yourself. For this reason, the supreme court considered in 2021 that the system was “easily manipulable & rdquor;.
The extraordinary decision of the Electoral Board days after the first cases of alleged fraud in Melilla were uncovered was precisely to force the ID when delivering the ballots, but only for autonomous city voters. Some of the proposals that are heard in political gossip are in this line, but there are also those who warn that it could imply hindering the exercise of a fundamental right.
“Zero tolerance”… and electoralism
Electoral campaigns are unpredictable, but cases of alleged electoral fraud have forced parties to react almost in discount time. And in the middle of the electoral battle, they also don’t miss the opportunity to profit from the latest scandals. PP and PSOE They struggle to remember that the system works, while vox has focused on Morocco – “it seems to be behind this electoral fraud & rdquor;, he says – and has launched an initiative in the Congress to “guarantee the absence of any foreign interference in the development of electoral processes in Spain & rdquor ;.
The PSOE points out that “these practices must have zero tolerance”, but rejects the need to change the legislation on voting by mail because – they assure the socialist leadership – “the end of the vote-buying mafia in Melilla has a name and surnames: the government delegate, Sabrina Moh& rdquor ;, who is also a member of the party. She is, they point out, the one who “has worked for months to end this, while the rest of the parties looked the other way& rdquor ;. That it has been achieved “demonstrates that the necessary tools exist in the legislation and in the State Security Forces and Corps to act forcefully & rdquor ;. And they defend that the same has happened in Mojacar, “with a much smaller plot & rdquor ;. The authorities have also acted, and in addition the PSOE “has taken immediate measures & rdquor ;, reports marisol hernandez.
The PP also avoids talking about legal changes, although it is in favor of improving “guarantees & rdquor; of voting by mail and abroad after the latest scandals. The popular legal team is analyzing some assumptions, especially what has to do with voting at the Post Office without presenting the DNI again. “This can not happen & rdquor ;, insist on genoabut the focus now must be “on the political& rdquor ;, reports Dove Stephen.
In the next 24 hours, the PP plans to harden its discourse against the PSOE, especially in the case of Mojácar. In genoa they believe that the scandal “may have variables in other territories& rdquor; and they are waiting for it. “Now it’s time to know what involvement he has in the PSOE. Later we will see reforms, but we are not going to oppose a more guarantee system & rdquor ;, they settle.
On the other side is Vox, which has already put legal changes on the table that even include reforming the Penal Code. The far-right party also takes the opportunity to attack the Government for its “successive concessions to Morocco& rdquor ;.
The background of 1989
It is not the first time that the validity of the electoral process has been questioned, and the precedents in Melilla are a good example of this. But if there is a striking precedent, it is the general elections of 1989. The electoral administration showed certain flaws, especially in relation to the censuses, which caused accusations of irregularities to spread throughout various areas of Spain the day after the elections. There were complaints in Murcia, Pontevedra and, of course, Melilla. The Superior Courts of Murcia, Galicia and Andalusia they ordered a repeat of the elections due to “vehement indications & rdquor; of errors in scrutiny.
When the matter came to constitutional Court, this revoked the decisions of two of the three bodies and only annulled the vote in Melilla, where it was time to return to the polls. The Constitutional Court then argued that if the irregularities detected affected the distribution of seats, it was necessary to repeat the elections. This case of electoral repetition due to irregularities now could not be the last: the decision of the Electoral Board to validate the 761 votes already issued by mail in Melilla without the DNI has already been appealed.
From the anecdote to the credibility of the system
What happened in 1989 had to do with irregularities, rather than a crime of electoral fraud. But any issue that involves questioning the system serves to make noise. Among the usual disinformation campaigns around any political process, those that try to introduce the virus of doubt and weaken the legitimacy of the system itself are especially dangerous. And the vote by mail is usually in the center.
In the last elections, the Andalusian regional elections in June of last year, there were messages alerting of alleged pouting. In the elections at Madrid’s community of 2021 it was Santiago Abascal who sowed suspicions about this form of voting: “For all those who have voted by mail and are wary of what can happen with voting by mail, we encourage you to vote in person, because voting in person cancels the vote by mail & rdquor ;. This last point is false had to rectify itnot without adding to his message: “We expect a transparent explanation from the Post Office about the irregularities seen, so that the people of Madrid can have full confidence in the process & rdquor ;.
The strategy has reached its highest levels on the other side of the ocean, in places like Brazil and the US Jair Bolsonario He became the focus of his criticism of the Brazilian voting system, issuing unfounded suspicions and accusations without evidence, especially regarding electronic voting. And Donald Trump ran for re-election in 2020 with slogans like “mail ballots, they cheat & rdquor; (votes by mail cheat). After losing in the elections, Trump spoke openly of “electoral fraud& rdquor; which was not proven.