Jul 20, 2012

#IAm132 demands that the TEPJF give credibility to the election

La Jornada: Americas Program Original Translation by Ryan Gentzler
See Spanish Original.
- Presents action proposal “to protect democracy”
- If the authority ignores complaints, there will be a “risk of social unrest”

Emir Olivares and Laura Poy.
The commission of citizen’s watch and the #IAm132 movement’s legal and human rights committees presented a plan of action to “protect democracy, demand a clean electoral process, demand the invalidation of the presidential election and prevent the imposition [of Enrique Peña Nieto],” which includes participation in this Sunday’s “megamarch.”

Representatives of both organizations clarified that several points of the plan must be approved by the interuniversity congress that will be held on July 28 and 29 in Morelia, Michoacán.

In the press conference, they called on the Electoral Tribunal of Judicial Power (TEPJF) to “give credibility” to the election and contribute to cleaning up the polls, and said that calling them clean, equitable and transparent “would send a very bad message to society. The assessment of the electoral process has already been given by the citizens and it doesn’t favor the PRI’s candidate.”

They warned that if the electoral authorities ignore “the thousands of citizen complaints (about alleged irregularities) documented up to this point, it would be a step towards a serious risk of social unrest.”

Asked about this, Edgar Tafoya, professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and member of the citizen watch commission, argued that one could observe “a legitimate effervescence of social discontent due to the a priori approval of the election. We see a risk that it could spread and get out of hand.”

Sofia Silva, a member of the legal committee and a psychology student at the UNAM, read the announcement with four action points, including the national “megamarch” against the imposition in every public square in the country, the only protest approved by the interuniversity congress.

Furthermore, the presentation of #IAm132’s second general report of electoral crimes and irregularities, and the international project in defense of democracy and for the invalidation of the election, which includes the collection of signatures at the national level and arguments based on the international right to free and safe voting, a task that is already being undertaken.

Finally, they kicked off a national publicity campaign called “I Too Am a Defender” with the purpose of reporting in a “creative and didactic” manner “the systematic violations that occurred before, during, and after” the voting.

Questioned about the possibility of the movement being approached by Enrique Peña Nieto, Tafoya suggested that “we haven’t been approached and it doesn’t interest us, we don’t see him as a partner. Our call is and has been to society as a whole.”

In the meantime, law students from the UNAM that participate in #IAm132 held a congress to define its position on the agreements of the National Convention against the Imposition, held in San Salvador Atenco.

They approved of the course of action decided upon there, since #IAm132 was part of the convention and will propose that a second session be held, taking into account the structure, logic, principles, and methods of collective decision making.

The agreement will be presented in next Monday’s special meeting in the Science Department of UNAM. The congress of the law department will present that for the moment, the movement “doesn’t have the capacity to peacefully take Televisa’s offices, so we’re proposing blocking access with coordinated actions and informative and cultural activities.”

They assured that they will respect and support the actions that are carried out in other states, without criminalizing or separating themselves from them, and they recognized the “right to legitimate defense and self defense in response to aggression or oppression from the State.”

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