Salvadoran diaspora protest against ‘electoral fraud’ and ‘illegal re-election’ in Times Square

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By LatAm Reports Staff Writers

Salvadorans abroad carried out a social media campaign that was joined by the hashtag “cacerolazodigitalsv with messages of rejection of what they consider a flawed process.”

Salvadorans in New York made the “digital co-walk” as a sign of rejection of “electoral fraud” and “illegal re-election” during the presidential and legislative elections held on February 4.

As part of the actions, on Wednesday night they placed a protest announcement at the famous Times Square intersection in New York to pressure the Supreme Electoral Tribunal for the annulment of the elections.

Under the hashtag “CaserolazoDigitalSV” the nationals spoke on social networks.

According to its organizers, measures such as these are also aimed at motivating Salvadorans abroad about the serious abuses that have occurred in the electoral process, and to build confidence to denounce and express themselves publicly and freely.

The Diaspora calls for the challenge of the elections, and for an electoral process to be carried out by ballots and with an electoral roll, in appropriate polling stations. They have also denounced that electronic voting lacks legal guarantees, as it cannot be audited or counted.

They also denounce the excess of vigilantes that the New Ideas party has had during the scrutiny of the legislative elections, “in complicity of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal,” also regret that the press is improperly taken out for reporting and documenting irregularities in the final count.

Faced with what they consider “an electoral failure,” the members of the diaspora have been carrying out a series of actions in Washington D.C. and New York, in which they expose illegalities as ballots without signs of having been folded, votes marked with feather and not with the crayola given by the TSE and the allocation of null votes as valid, among others.

In the sense, they also demand the immediate dismissal of the judges of the TSE and the appointment of new judges representing all political parties.
Rudy Ferman, a representative of the diaspora in New York, points out that measures like these will continue in different states of the United States. 

“We have had support in different states, we are having contact with different organizations in the United States and we do not rule out unifying efforts in the coming days to strengthen the actions that are being carried out,” he said in an interview with El Diario de Hoy.

Ferman also stated that several members of the diaspora are receiving threats through social networks for the actions being taken, however he adds the respective complaints have already been filed.

This article has been translated from the original which first appeared in El Salvador