Use public resources for electoral purposes; condition the delivery of any government service, procedure or program in exchange for voting for a specific candidate; coerce or threaten voters, and offer money or products in exchange for votes, These are just some of the electoral crimes that can be denounced by the citizens of Coahuila and the State of Mexico, in case of being victims or witnesses of some of these illegal conducts.
As the elections for governor in these entities are held this Sunday, it is appropriate to remember which activities are not allowed throughout election day, which can be committed by political party personnel, candidates, and even by ordinary citizens. .
For example, voting knowing that the legal requirements are not met; vote on more than one occasion in the same election; proselytizing on election day inside the polling stations or outside the polling stations, and hindering the development of the elections, are electoral crimes that are punishable by up to three years in prison.
The same happens if you request to vote for a candidate in exchange for money; request evidence of the way in which it was voted, and transport voters in order to influence the direction of their vote. Nor is it allowed to carry out or distribute electoral propaganda on the day of the elections, nor to publicly and fraudulently disclose false news regarding the development or results obtained.
Other behaviors that are also typified as electoral crimes are hindering the installation of the polling stations, or interfering in the counting and counting of the votes; and exercise violence against women or restrict women from voting freely.
Where to report
In the case of Coahuila, any of these crimes can be reported to the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Electoral Crimes of that entity (Feadec), institution that this Sunday will install 87 modules in the 38 municipalities of the state, with the aim of facilitating citizen reports.
These modules will be in charge of agents of the Public Ministry, and in them there will also be experts and elements of the Coahuila Criminal Investigation Agency, reported the attorney general of that state, Gerardo Márquez Guevara.
In addition, if you witness any irregularity during the electoral day, the Feadec can also receive Telephone complaints at the following numbers: 800.831.7878 and 844.438.7687.
In turn, in the State of Mexico, the authority in charge of investigating and prosecuting this type of crime is the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Electoral Crimes (Femde), an organization that can be called to make a complaint on the telephones 722.167. 3245 and 722.167.3252.
On the other hand, in the event that electoral crimes are committed at the federal level, which are illegal behaviors in which instruments such as the Nominal List are affected, the Specialized Prosecutor for Electoral Crimes of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic (FGR).
This unit reported that 20 of its officials specialized in electoral crimes will be present in Coahuila, and another 32 will work this Sunday in the State of Mexico.
As the elections in these two entities are of a local nature, it is the state prosecutor’s offices that will be in charge of receiving the complaints, although -in the event that the commission of a federal electoral crime is suspected- the report must be made to the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office in matters of Electoral Crimes of the FGR.
It should be remembered that, since 2019, one of the electoral crimes that are contemplated in the specialized legislation was also included in the second paragraph of article 19 of the Constitution. Its about use of social programs for electoral purposes which -since then- is an illegal act that warrants informal (automatic) pre-trial detention.
Those who will be able to vote
In the elections for governor in the state of Coahuila, they will be able to vote 2 million 355,025 citizens, of these 1.16 million are men and 1.19 women.
Four candidates for governor are competing in this entity: Manolo Jiménez Salinas, standard-bearer of the Citizens’ Alliance for Security that is made up of the Institutional Revolutionary (PRI), National Action (PAN) and Democratic Revolution (PRD) parties.
Armando Guadiana Tijerina, candidate of the National Regeneration Movement (Morena); Ricardo Mejía Berdeja, from the Labor Party (PT); and Evaristo Lenin Pérez Rivera, who is competing for the Salvemos Coahuila alliance, which included the Unidad Democrática de Coahuila and the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM) parties.
On your side, in the State of Mexico the definitive Nominal List is made up of 12 million 676,625 citizens, highlighting that 6 million 647,702 are women and 6 million 28,923 men.
In this demarcation there are two candidates for governor, the Morenista Delfina Gómez Álvarez, former federal Secretary of Public Education, and Alejandra del Moral Vela, former Secretary of Social Development of that state, standard bearer of the Va por México coalition that makes up the Institutional Revolutionary, Action National, of the Democratic Revolution, and New Alliance.
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surya palaces Journalist and lawyer, specialist in legal analysis and human rights. She has been a reporter, radio host and editor.