Mexico Referendum On Prosecuting Ex-presidents Draws Few Voters

Mexico City, Aug 2 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Aug, 2021 ) :A national referendum pushed by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on whether to prosecute his predecessors for alleged corruption drew only a small fraction of voters to the polls on Sunday.

Turnout was little more than seven percent -- far from the 40 percent necessary for it to have any legal bearing, the National Electoral Institute (INE) said based on an official quick count.

As expected, the "yes" vote for legal action was far ahead, in an estimated range of 89-96 percent, compared with less than two percent for "no," INE president Lorenzo Cordova said.

Lopez Obrador, a self-styled anti-graft crusader, said the public consultation would strengthen participatory democracy, but critics saw it as little more than a political stunt.

"A consultation wasn't necessary to know that the people want corruption to be punished," Jose Antonio Crespo, a political analyst at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics, told AFP.

"The prosecution will simply do what the president tells it, because even if it's formally autonomous, we've seen in practice that it is not," he added.

Rosario Gomez was among the minority determined to vote.

"It's about time these thieves pay!" the 52-year-old market vendor said.

Montserrat Rosas, a 25-year-old civil servant voting in Mexico City, said that although the referendum itself would not put the former leaders on trial, it brings "hope that justice will be done." - 'Political circus' - The INE set up around 57,000 ballot boxes, compared with more than 160,000 for June's legislative and local elections, and carried out limited promotion activities citing a lack of resources.

That annoyed Lopez Obrador, who has repeatedly criticized the poll body and accused it of endorsing "fraud" in the past.

"It's not true that the INE doesn't want the consultation," said Cordova.

Mexico is ranked 124th out of 179 on Transparency International's world corruption perceptions index.

But former presidents can be tried like any other citizen, and critics argued that the referendum was unnecessary.

"Waiting for the results of a consultation is making justice a political circus," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, regional director of New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Although the vote was Lopez Obrador's brainchild, the 67-year-old ruled out voting himself because he did not want "corrupt and hypocritical conservatism" to accuse him of vindictiveness.