The international observer said that, by European standards, all irregularities reported in the presidential and legislative elections in El Salvador seem “very extraordinary.”
“It has been read, and other colleagues from the group of other premises have told us, that there were many technical problems in sending the data from the center to the coordination; that there were error messages on the computer when sending the data, it seems that also, I have read it, some data has doubled, maybe something has been lost, it is not known. But that for us as Europeans, because of the standards to which we are accustomed, seems very extraordinary to us,” Oliver Arranz Becker, an accredited international observer for CECADE, said on Thursday about irregularities in the presidential and legislative elections held in El Salvador, of which the final ballot is being carried out since Wednesday.
‘It’s also been read, we haven’t observed it, that some packages weren’t well sealed, even open, maybe. And that, in our view, would be a reason to repeat perhaps the election. If it had been in Europe we would surely have repeated, the elections would have been declared null and void,” Arranz said.
On Sunday, February 4, El Salvador held its presidential and legislative elections, where several members of the voting polls denounced technical problems as they tried to enter the place where the votes would be entered, they doubled.
Opposition parties have also supported the repetition of the past legislative elections in the face of the inconveniences that arose with the transmission of results and the lack of transparency presented by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal.
Manuel Flores, the FMLNFMLN’s presidential candidate, said he will ask “that the elections of deputies be annulled and that it be transferred to March 3 and that the electronic vote be only that day, because in the first place we will hold a meeting with all political parties.”
Carlos García Saade, leader of the ARENA party, reported that, although “the nullity is requested within a certain period that has already expired, but we should see all the things that are going on; for example, yesterday (Tuesday) they still found ballots in a school when they had already had classes . We’d have to see if custody hasn’t been lost. We should call for a forensic audit of the vote from abroad.”
This article has been translated from the original which first appeared in La Prensa Grafica