“The Tokyo Stock Exchange does not want to accept its guilt in this disaster”: ARENA president via audio recordings of the meeting

“The Supreme Electoral Tribunal does not want to admit its guilt in this whole disaster, it wants to purify itself in others, and it even tried to do it in us, in the opposition parties. They do not want to admit that everything is the result of “Improvise them.”

The politician was present at the special meeting held by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) with representatives of political parties, which, according to some, Audios published by AlvaroThe president of the court, Dora Martinez, confirms that they do not rule out that they may have intervened from within the Turkish court to conduct matters in this way. He talked about a possible attempt at an internal boycott, without giving any other details.

Saadeh downplayed what the judge said, but rather confirmed that her discontent is increasing towards some officials who, since the flaws of the regime began to appear, have been looking for a scapegoat for the “disaster.”

Read more: Fed up and without evidence: This is what it was like to count votes as the TSE system failed

“They even tried to blame the polling stations, when these people sacrificed so much… The truth is that it was the result of decisions they themselves made,” Saadeh says, then lists some examples his party members told him. They denounced: The changes made in the JRVs at the beginning of the vote, where citizens who attended the training were replaced by Nuevas Ideas members who were not aware of the process and did not have credentials. Some people appointed as missionaries were also replaced by other clergy in the official party, who also did not know the protocol.

He points out that some of the JRVs did not even have sufficient security papers to carry out the operation, which was accepted by the head of the IT department of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Ignacio Villagran.

For Saadeh, in addition to these decisions, a large part of the “messy” outcome is due to the fact that the judges “improvise on the fly.” Proof of this, he says, is that at the meeting in which it was announced that some voting centers abroad would be open because many citizens did not arrive in time to vote, they were told that there would be three places. When they publicly announced their reversal, they pointed to six sites.

“Are they 6 or are they 3? They do not agree. They still blame us as the opposition, saying that we oppose the vote of our brothers abroad. We are only on the side of legality.” He also confirms that they were not clearly informed where the final vetting process would take place, whether in the stadium Jorge L. Mágico González or at the facilities of the National Sports Institute of El Salvador, where 300 or 400 tables will be placed to audit all the ballot boxes.

Saadeh confirms that they were told that, as a group, they would not be able to have a bouncer at each table, due to “space issues.” However, he says, from the Nuevas Ideas party, they commented that they would allocate one person to each one.

If they are allowed to do so, they must also authorize us and other parties. “It's fair and legal,” says Saadeh. Rep. Reynaldo Cardoza, of PCN, also expressed his complaints about the TSE's improvisations, especially regarding where the final audit will be conducted.

He wondered, “How can a collective entity like the Supreme Electoral Court, at this stage, not have a decision and resolve? What is happening in the collective entity, headed by its president, is unfortunate. This has never happened in the country.” I've won five terms, six with this one, and we've never seen this kind of mess, where I'm giving them a lot of money for nothing. How could those at the table fill out the minutes manually? Excuse me, Cardoza said, “when millions and millions and millions have been spent.”

Arena's president, Carlos Saade, also criticized the Public Prosecutor of the Republic, Rodolfo Delgado, who did not publicly express himself on any of the problems registered in the local votes on February 4, pointing, as an example, to the Spanish company. INDRA, the provider of the electronic voting system, denied Salvadorans abroad the ability to vote, because it was already too late.

“We know that the Attorney General answers to the presidential house, just like these judges. “They will not do anything that is not asked of them from there.”

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