Eduardo Verástegui’s presidential candidacy in Mexico could not advance due to the insufficient number of signatures required for his inclusion as an independent on the ballot for the next elections. On several occasions, the renowned actor and human rights activist denounced failures in the signature collection process.
Verástegui will no longer be able to participate as an independent candidate in the elections on June 2. Neither he nor seven other non-party candidates managed to meet the requirement of obtaining 961,405 signatures, equivalent to 1% of the electoral roll distributed in at least 17 states of the country.
Until the cutoff on Monday, January 1, the National Electoral Institute (INE) had validated only 139,162 for the activist, and another 3,488 were still under review. However, Verástegui has assured that he will not allow “the constant and discriminatory failures of the INE application” to stop him.
Familia, estamos en un momento clave para la democracia. Nos quieren quitar la capacidad de pronunciarnos, de elegir libremente a nuestros candidatos, y ni siquiera tienen la valentía de hacerlo abiertamente: ponen trabas, discriminando a los que no pueden tener los celulares que…
— Eduardo Verástegui (@EVerastegui) December 31, 2023
The activist announced that he plans to create a far-right political party starting in January 2025 and thus does not have to comply with the number of signatures required as an independent candidate.
“For me, these obstacles are not going to stop me because I am not going to betray the hundreds of thousands of people who accompanied me and gave me their support,” said Verástegui.
The pre-candidate has denounced that the process of collecting signatures had irregularities that prevented him from formalizing his candidacy.
“Unfortunately, Mexico’s democracy is in the hands of an application that does not work. The INE Citizen Support application is not working. We have thousands of videos, we have the evidence and we are suing the INE,” he reported.
Es muy triste ver a un gran país como México secuestrado por los mismos políticos de siempre, gente sin valores tomando decisiones para guiar a un país con valores, una buena nación siendo gobernada por personas sin ética, sin escrúpulos y sin principios.
¡Que viva México y que…— Eduardo Verástegui (@EVerastegui) January 5, 2024
During the collection process, Verástegui requested an extension in the deadline to collect signatures due to the multiple failures presented, including the failure of the INE application for 55 hours in four days. However, the request was denied.
Verástegui also tried to have physical signatures accepted instead of on the digital application, but he was not allowed to do so either. “This is not fair. They are playing with my time and my money because I paid for this campaign, with the hope of gathering a million signatures (...) They are committing fraud, and I am not going to sit idly by. I’m going to fight. The vast majority of Mexicans want a change. They have no political representation; they feel like orphans,” he said.
Complaints through social networks
Estás a un día de que por culpa de la app del INE te quedes sin representación en las elecciones del 2024.
La libertad tiene una ruta y hoy más que nunca, te invito a tomarla. pic.twitter.com/mPHjzjJ3m7— Eduardo Verástegui (@EVerastegui) January 6, 2024
El @INEMexico no permite que firmemos por @EVerastegui, son muchas firmas que he perdido por la mala aplicación pic.twitter.com/MUWFmSF0Qa
— Adriana (@Adriana69197473) January 6, 2024
El @INEMexico descrimina, no nos permite firmar a los que contamos con un iPhone pic.twitter.com/tzGRRLEuDn
— Adriana (@Adriana69197473) January 6, 2024
