The PP asks to extend to the rest of Spain the requirement of the DNI to vote by mail after the possible "fraud" in Melilla

The Government delegate in Melilla, Sabrina Moh, has confirmed this Thursday the existence of an open investigation and related to the possible “fraud” on 11,002 votes by mail for the elections on May 28 in the autonomous city. A figure that represents about 20% of the census and that affects almost a third of the seats that must be distributed in the Assembly of Melilla. Of these, Correos has only validated 704 for the moment.

Justice has in its hands a case that, as EL MUNDO has been able to learn, includes more than 20 investigated and in which the purchase of votes is being investigated, which has occurred previously in the autonomous city, but on this occasion it has skyrocketed to figures unknown up to now, and that multiply by seven the national average of applications for voting by mail. The researchers investigate the connections of the plot with political parties that concur in the elections of this 28-M.

The Zone Electoral Board (JEZ) agreed late on Wednesday that voters by mail identify themselves with ID or Passport when depositing their vote at the Melilla Post Office, after more than 10,000 voters in the city have requested this voting modality. This is an exceptional measure, which is usually never required in this part of the voting process.

In the minutes of the meeting, the JEZ justified the measure because it foresees that the percentage could reach 20% of the census once the application period for voting by mail ends this Thursday, figures that “are unsustainable and, without much intellectual effort, , suggest that there could be irregularities” in the process.

The Popular Party, through the mouth of its president in Melilla, Juan José Imbroda, has asked to extend this measure to other post offices in the rest of Spain to generalize the requirement to deposit the vote by mail personally and identifying with the DNI.

Suspicions and investigations into electoral fraud have been recurrent in different electoral processes in Melilla. The two main political parties in the Assembly, PP and CPM, have accused each other of being behind the alleged irregularities in voting by mail and the theft of electoral documentation from Post Office workers, which prompted the Security Forces to carry out escort work.

ID requirement

“To correct these irregularities before they are irremediable”, the JEZ has taken this measure, by which the post office in Melilla will require the voter by mail to identify himself by ID, passport, or other valid document at the time to deliver the certified envelope with the vote by mail for its forwarding to the polling station.

In this way, the Electoral Board attends to the request of PP and Vox, before which the Coalition for Melilla (CPM) has issued a particular vote against, the latter circumstance that “surprises” the Government delegate, Sabrina Moh, who in its Twitter profile has made a positive assessment of the agreement adopted.

The Electoral Board only exempts voters by mail who cannot go to the Post Office for a justified reason from this requirement, in which case they may request authorization after providing supporting documentation that prevents them from appearing in person.

Likewise, it rules out suspending voting by mail in Melilla because such a measure “would require that there had been a relevant adulteration of the electoral process and based on objective data, a circumstance that does not occur” in this case.

It does point out “two relevant circumstances”, the first that in a national news program “these irregularities are echoed” and point to “a fairly advanced police investigation in relation to these facts”, in addition to the testimony of a citizen who affirms “that he Various parties have offered money for their vote.

The second, the criminal proceedings for irregularities in voting by mail in the 2008 general elections, in which members of the PSOE and CPM, including their respective top officials, were sentenced for buying votes in exchange for a position in the employment plans.

The meeting also addressed the request of Los Verdes to temporarily paralyze the electoral campaign, although the JEZ has agreed not to assess the merits of the matter due to the “lack of legitimacy of said political party”, which last week he withdrew his candidacy from the elections.