Journalist
20 November 2021
The electoral register that we have
Memories of the present
“Thanks to this spectacular growth in the electoral register, the goal of President Morales of September 7th was finally reached. From 2,616,846 registered voters on September 9th, it went to 5,088,924 on October 22nd: 2,472,078 additional registered voters. 94% growth in just 6 weeks!”
Fernando Bazúa – Center for Studies on Public Problems of Mexico
The denunciations of the Tribunal Member Rosario Baptista have been described as “fanciful” by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), where those whom she denounced as MAS militants have decided that the current electoral register is “quite safe and reliable.”
The history of the current electoral register dates back to 2007, according to a very detailed inspection made by Fernando Bazúa, from the Center for Studies on Public Problems of Mexico, in 2009. Bazúa is Professor of Political Economy and Public Policy at the Autonomous Metropolitan University and at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), Mexico.
The coca grower Morales, in the position of President since 2006, had decided that a free, fast, and complete issuing of identity cards should be carried out in the country. The European Union then observed that the National Electoral Court (CNE) should be in charge of doing this, since the method decided by the Government lacked transparency.
On 07/08/08, La Razón [newspaper] denounced that the issuing of identity cards in Cochabamba was being carried out at the MAS [Political] Campaign House.
On 05/10/09, 34 companies were invited to make the new electoral register. According to El Deber [newspaper], the National Electoral Court reports that the famous Venezuelan company Smartmatic was not chosen. However, on 11/24/09, La Razón reports that Smartmatic did participate in the development of the biometric [system].
On 09/07/09, Morales ordered to reach the number of 5 million registered. Amazing miracles began to occur during the registration.
On 09/11/09, Luis Pereira, director of the biometric [system], said that the registrants totaled 2,616,846, which was 91,318 more than Antonio Costas had reported the day before!
Eleven days later, the figures released by those responsible for the feat cause the author of the study to exclaim: “At an ultrasonic speed, between 09/09/09 and 09/20/09, the total number of registered voters went from 2,616,846 to 3,568,906 registrants. That is, in just 11 days, the electoral register grew by 1,043,378 registered voters!”
And about the figures of 10/12/09, Bazúa states: “At a similar speed, from 09/20/09 to 10/12/09, the total number of registered voters went from 3,568,906 to 4,561,300 people. That is, in just three weeks, the electoral register grew by 992,394 registered voters!”
On 10/15/09, the Mexican expert increased the tone of his amazement: “Accelerating the pace, only three days after 10/12/09, the electoral register grew by 268,638 registered voters! From 4,561,300 to 4,829,938 registered voters. 89,546 daily!”
“And it exceeded its expected total on 09/11/09 by 1,312,672. But it almost reached the goal of President Morales.”
I give the floor to Bazúa, whose amazement was as inflated as the figures of the new electoral register.
“Thanks to this spectacular growth in the electoral register, the goal of President Morales of September 7th was finally reached. From 2,616,846 registered voters on September 9th, it went to 5,088,924 on October 22nd: 2,472,078 additional registered voters. 94% growth in just 6 weeks!”
The Mexican expert must have seen many miracles of this type on the part of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), but when reviewing the figures of the Bolivian electoral register it seemed to him that such levels of impudence had never been reached.
Well, that’s how the current electoral register was made, “reliable and safe.”
Very safe for the MAS.
