Surgeon Joaquín Morales Chávez, a member of the Salvadoran Nation Abroad, expressed concern about various aspects of the foreign voting law and said the settlement was intended to prepare for “potential fraud”.
19 Feb 2023 – 22:40
During his recent visit to El Salvador to verify allegations of abuse of power by the government of Nayib Bukele, Dr. José Joaquín Morales Chávez, born in El Salvador and residing in Canada, gave an interview to El Diario de Hoy to analyze the controversy. . • the foreign electoral law promoted by the party in power.
The surgeon specializing in France, El Salvador and Canada also highlighted the aspects that most concern him about said regulations and among these he mentioned the absence of an electoral list, the fact that expired passports are allowed and the lack of transparency.
Faced with the 2024 elections, the compatriot assured that he himself and the other members of the “Nation of Salvadorans Abroad” movement will remain vigilant to everything that is happening in this country that he had to abandon in times of armed conflict and stressed that before any irregularity that appears will not hesitate to make the respective complaints from abroad.
In addition, he asked the TSE to include them in the control of the foreign vote and warned that in the next electoral process, Nuevas Ideas will always seek to maintain a majority in the Legislative Assembly. This says:
How do you judge the law on voting abroad?
We have reviewed the law on voting abroad and we are concerned about several things. We believe the law is more than anything to prepare for possible overseas voting fraud.
Why fraud?
600,000 expired and unexpired Single Identity Documents (DUIS) will be used and more than 2,000 expired and unexpired passports will be used. Some given to people who are not Salvadoran.
Why were these identity documents given to foreigners?
We know that there are people of Peruvian and Bolivian origin who, through mischief, obtained illegal documents in El Salvador to have TPS in the United States, they have a passport, they have a birth certificate and therefore they also can vote. It cannot be like this, it is not democracy, it is electoral fraud, well planned and the Legislative Assembly, obeying the President of the Republic, lent itself to doing it incorrectly. This does not seem to us to be the case.
But what particular aspects of the law do you think might lend themselves to this?
For example, before there were five members of the Vote Reception Councils, today there will be only three and the President of the Electoral Supervisory Council will be appointed by Nuevas Ideas, the second by GANA and the third by ARENA.
What are the implications of this?
Before, the TSE used to raffle the positions, today, in all the voting meetings, they will decide the position of president, secretary and others. In other words, opposition parties are deprived of monitoring their vote.
It will be possible to vote with expired passports, what do you think?
We know there are 2.7 million expired and unexpired passports that can be used to vote, for example, I have three passports, which means I can potentially vote three times. It seems to me a masquerade (enigma), just as it cannot be so.
Concerning the absence of an electoral file, there were many criticisms, how do you see that?
There will be no electoral list, so there will be no invalid or disputed votes from abroad. They will all be valid. It’s illegal because they’ll be in El Salvador. To vote in Canada and in the country you had to register to be on the voters list and if you are not on the payroll you cannot vote.
What has been your experience in Canada with the use of a registry?
In Canada, I will vote in federal, provincial and municipal elections and if I do not appear on a list, I cannot vote, unless I have a document accepted by the people responsible for validating the voting process, but There’s no voters list here, so shisha and lemonade will vote.
Does the Alien Voting Act guarantee transparency, as the ruling party says?
The TSE will not choose the company that will carry out the electronic voting and the government will impose a company without tendering or transparency.
Are there any other aspects that concern you about the Alien Voting Act?
It was decided that among Salvadorans born abroad, all votes would go to San Salvador. Previously, the vote was attributed to the department where the father or mother of a voter born outside El Salvador was born. San Salvador elects 24 deputies and assigning this seat (votes from abroad) only to San Salvador could lead to fraud.
But in the middle of this is the work of the TSE, which must guarantee respect for the popular will. What would you say on behalf of the Nation Movement of Salvadorans Abroad to the electoral judges?
We tell them not to comment on these inconsistencies which violate the Constitution and the electoral law (registration of Bukele’s candidacy) and that they be independent of other powers because the election is key in our countries. We are going to watch what they are doing, we even want that if they are going to implement the vote abroad that they appoint watchmen in our country who are outside the country so that they watch the vote, that they not only have three people, they involve us.
Is there a particular request from the movement concerning the electoral question?
We want to see if the vote from abroad is correct or not, that there is an electoral list. If they (TSE) know about the election, they can’t say the vote is okay without a voter register, have a voter register, make a voter register. For the fatherland, for our country, do not condone fraud. We are going to be vigilant towards you and we are going to denounce you abroad.
And on the registration of Bukele’s candidacy.
We cannot accept that the TSE, which is the highest authority in electoral matters, lends itself to the manipulations of the President of the Republic and obeys the Constitutional Chamber with this document which is illegal (judgment which confirms the re-election of Bukele).
How do you see the political panorama before the electoral process and the role of the ruling party in it?
The ruling party will attempt to preserve the simple majority by allocating those overseas votes to San Salvador. It shouldn’t be like that. Moreover, there will be satellite parties of the government that will vote for him. The entire apparatus of the state and colossal sums will also be used for the electoral campaign without granting the political debt to the other parties.
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