The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) was preparing last night to finish the final count of last Sunday’s presidential election and thus ratify Nayib Bukele’s victory to stop the post of president during the five-year period 2024-2029, despite the constitutional ban on continued presidential re-election.
After two days of final scrutiny, and until 9:21 p.m., the official figures provided by the TSE, with 98.7 percent of minutes scrutinized were: 2,671,450 votes for New Ideas; 201,705 for the FMLN; 175,588 for ARENA; 63.962 for Our Time; 23.097 for Solidarity Force; and 19,016 for Fraternity Patriot Solidaria.
Previous figures include both national voting and the two forms of voting abroad: electronic online voting and face-to-face voting in consulates.
We are waiting for that consolidated to be held to the count of Members.
Fernando López, Minister of the Environment and member of New Ideas.
After that update, Judge Noel Orellana said that “tomorrow (Friday) we will conclude, because it is already a minimum number of voting boards that are pending.”
Irregularities
The final scrutiny of the presidential election was not exempt from the signals that have been made to the electoral process since last Sunday, following the closure of polling stations.
This is because although the TSE had announced that the scrutiny would be carried out by reviewing the 70 % of minutes that had entered the system on Sunday and counting a vote per vote of 30 % pending, the decision was subsequently amended.
Data. On a monitor, the results of the presidential final ballot were updated.
The GRANIFIC PRESS had access to a memorandum sent by the TSE, on Tuesday, February 6, ordering the members of the tables to use the final counting process, the minutes held by the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR).
“The members of the tables are instructed to take the minutes of preliminary scrutiny held by the TSE, the minutes in the hands of the Attorney General’s Office are instructed to take the minutes in the possession of the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic,” reads the memorandum, handed over on Wednesday to political parties following an agreement of the collegiate body.
In some cases, the official party has minutes. The curious thing is that the governing body of the elections has no record.
Mirna Benavides, FMLN representative at JVE.
However, candidates and members of opposition parties at the tables point out that only the ruling New Ideas party and the FGR have copies signed by members of the tables.
“As everyone will know, on Sunday, the big problem there was, in addition to the transmission, was the impression of minutes. The collegiate agency, in an attempt to amend the error, issued an agreement where the minutes could be made by hand. We do not know how they have gone to the FGR and now the FGR has closing minutes and also New Ideas,” said ARENA President Carlos García Saade.
“They are now using those closing minutes to confront the numbers that are in the system. Article 211 of the electoral code is clear that the only valid minutes are those of the JRV sealed and signed by members. And now there are minutes without stamps, without signatures and they are forcing them to confront them, it cannot be,” Garcia Saade added.
There is a question: is receiving the TSE to other people to meet and the opposition they want to relegate us.
Andy Failer, president of Our Time.
One of the cases, to exemplify, occurred in the closing minutes of the JRV 2078, at the counting table 2 of San Salvador, said Irma Tapia, candidate for deputy of Our Time.
“Only the official New Ideas party had the copy with signatures, the Prosecutor’s Office too. We find it incredible that it is the New Ideas party that has them, and that the Tribunal itself, which is the highest electoral authority, does not have an original signed act. Leave what to think about how the scale of this game is,” Tapia said.
The complaint on the issue was supported, yesterday, by the parties Nuestro Tiempo, ARENA and Vamos, who recalled that they asked the court for a public meeting in which the methodology for the counting of the legislative election can be reported in detail, since they claim not to have such information officially.
“There is an instruction that was issued by the TSE to give the indications and rules of the final scrutiny, but this is before the election day. Therefore, she does not have contemplated the anomalous situation we live in,” explained the deputy and re-election candidate Claudia Ortiz (Come on).
The instruction says there are minutes, and that everyone has them. But the vast majority of cases, the minutes were not transmitted.
Claudia Ortiz, MP for Vamos.
This article has been translated from the original which first appeared in La Prensa Grafica