2023-11-02 13:14:07
“These new rights inhabit a kind of political flat-eartherism in which things are affirmed and denied that are only true because the referent says them. When this way of dealing with the truth collides with democratic institutions, it is worrying,” he stressed. Jorge Fontevecchia at the opening of Modo Fontevecchiaon Net TV, Radio Perfil (AM 1190) and Radio Amadeus (FM 91.1) on Thursday, November 2, 2023.
Since the results of the general elections were known, which declared the winner with more than 7 points Sergio Massathe inner circle of Javier Miley began to talk regarding issues related to the possibility of fraud. They hint at the idea that the victory of the official candidate might be fake.
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Definition of fraud
The RAE defines fraud as follows:
1. Action contrary to truth and righteousness, which harms the person once morest whom it is committed.
2. Act aimed at evading a law or achieving an end through deception.
3. Deceitful means intended to alter the truth or reality.
4. Falsehood, deceit.
The doubt regarding the morality of the candidate Sergio Massa and the Union for the Homeland vote became one of the campaign axes of Javier Milei and his virtual head of communication, Mauricio Macri.
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There are several characteristics that these new far-rights have in common in all parts of the world: They all appeal to the argument of fraud. Both Vox, Trump, Giorgia, Meloni, Bolsonaro and Javier Milei, to name just a few examples, speak of the importance of the cultural battle once morest the left and everything that has to do with the very notion of having rights, they are totally once morest feminism and deny climate change.
But there is one particular characteristic that American expressions fundamentally have, which is undoubtedly the most disturbing: the questioning of basic aspects of democracy. That is, both Trump, Bolsonaro and Javier Milei denounced fraud when they were electorally defeated.
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The extreme right claiming fraud
On November 3, 2020, Donald Trumpin a press conference, claimed that the results of the elections had not been correct. “This is a fraud. We have won the elections,” said the former president of the United States following the results of these did not give him a winner and did not allow him a re-election.
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On the other hand, but in Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro He also denounced fraud following the defeat, in addition to denouncing justice in the electoral process.
Javier Mileyfollowing the PASO elections on August 13, denounced in a television program that “without fraud” he got “35 points”even having won the primaries.
The North American and Brazilian leaders went one step further. Once defeated, they summoned their followers to take over democratic institutions and to make roadblocks.
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It did not matter that they were complaints without any evidence, nor did it matter later to corroborate Trump and Bolsonaro’s statements. Everything was done regarding conjectures and speculations without any rigor.
Only the words of these leaders were enough for the followers of Trump and Bolsonaro to go out and repeat and question the results that gave them as losers. Obviously, related to the phenomenon that is generated with social networks, an electoral flat earther, There does not need to be evidence for what is not true to be considered true.
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On the day of the storming of the Capitol in the United States, Donald Trump warned the citizens of his country that they were going to have a “illegitimate president”. “When you find someone in a fraud, “You are authorized to change the rules of the game.”Trump said.
In the case of Brazil, the spokesperson for Jair Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party made a presentation to the electoral justice system that was the predecessor to the takeovers of Brazil’s institutions. They presented a 30-page document that claimed that 350 thousand electronic ballot boxes prevented Bolsonaro’s re-election due to malfunctions.
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Scientific thinking always looks for invariables. In this case, the three candidates are, to a large extent, candidates who rely on the social networks for the political fight. Networks have the characteristic of showing users content with which they already agree so that they remain longer within the application, regardless of the correspondence between content and reality. All this conceived the development of such absurd theories like flat earthism.
These new rights inhabit a kind of political flat-eartherism in which things are affirmed and denied that are only true because the referent says them. When this way of dealing with the truth collides with democratic institutions it is worrying.
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Milei said that it was impossible for him to have so much electoral support and have tables with zero votes. However, the plates that summarize the CELAG report show that saying that there was fraud because there were tables with 0 votes is a phenomenon that occurs in all elections.
In this last election, there was 1669 Milei tables with 0 votes, 1659 tables with 0 votes for Sergio Massa and 1675 tables with 0 votes for Patricia Bullrich. From what you see, everyone had tables with 0 voteswhich shows that does not determine electoral fraud.
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The eventual Minister of the Interior of Milei also expressed himself in this sense, Guillermo Francos, saying that there was fraud in the general elections. And he announced that there will be PRO inspection to guarantee electoral results.
In the 2019 elections, in which he won Alberto Fernandezwas 3229 tables with 0 votes for the president.
In 2015, in the elections between Mauricio Macri and Daniel Scioli, 2,939 tables gave 0 votes for Macri, who had obtained 51% of the votes.
Argentina has many problems, but we must recognize that for 40 years we have been a example of democracy. It must be recognized that our electoral system works. The desire to see that “everything is wrong” leads us to this type of wrong conclusions.
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For his part, the national electoral director, Marcos Schiavi, declared in a radio interview that “the discussions are unfair and implausible.”
Last Tuesday, November 1, Cristian Ritondo, who is aligned with Mauricio Macri and Patricia Bullrich in supporting Javier Milei, offered the supervision of the PRO and spoke regarding complaints regarding fraud that circulate on the networks. “Ensuring that an election is clean is a democratic responsibility,” said Ritondo in an interview for Radio La Red. In addition, he said that if I had the certainty “I would denounce it.”
The electoral Justice dismissed the complaints of fraud in the networks: “The only valid scrutiny is the final one”
Electoral certainties and differences
It is not enough to establish doubt, which becomes more important in a runoff because the differences between the candidates tend to be very small.
For example, in the 2015 Argentine runoff, Mauricio Macri had 51.34 of the points and Daniel Scioli 48.66. That is to say that there was 2 and a half points difference. With just one point difference, it would have been a tie.
In Brazil there was a similar case, Lula won with 50.79 and Bolsonaro lost with 49.34 points, a difference of less than one point.
Having certainties is part of the democratic convention. Casting doubts on the electoral result without evidence can be a subtle form of denialism. It can also be a way to undermine democratic credibility.
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As an exercise, they were asked Chat GPT if there might have been fraud in the United States elections. The answer has a sense that may be appreciated in the Argentine political discussion:
“There is no solid evidence that supports the claim that there was fraud in the 2020 presidential elections in the United States, in which Joe Biden and Donald Trump faced each other. Both the United States Department of Justice and numerous courts, including the Supreme Court, They rejected the fraud complaints presented by the Trump team due to the lack of conclusive evidence.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) called the 2020 election “the most secure in American history.” In addition, multiple audits were carried out and vote counts in key stateswhich confirmed the validity of the results.
Explain the inexplicable
“It is important to note that claims of widespread voter fraud have been widely discredited and are considered unfounded conspiracy theories. Joe Biden’s election as president was certified by the United States Congress, and Biden was sworn into office on January 20, 2021.
The accusation of fraud in this election was a very controversial issue, but not enough evidence found to support this statement, and the results were validated by multiple sources”
We also asked him regarding the possibility of fraud in Argentina. He answered the following:
“The possibility of fraud in an election in Argentina, as in any other country, exists, but it is important to highlight that Argentina has an electoral system that has evolved over time and is designed to guarantee transparency and integrity in the electoral process. The Argentine electoral system is governed by regulations and laws that establish procedures to carry out free and fair elections.
“In Argentina, elections are usually organized by the National Electoral Justice and supervised by the National Electoral Chamber, which contributes to a more impartial and controlled electoral process. “Political parties and candidates also have representatives at the voting stations and can monitor the electoral process.”
Kill democracy
Additionally, the country has implemented electronic voting in some jurisdictions to improve the efficiency and transparency of the electoral process.
While the possibility of fraud always exists in any electoral system, it is important to highlight thate Argentina has worked to strengthen of their electoral institutions and regulations to minimize this possibility and ensure fair elections and reliable.”
From all this, the questions arise: Will fraud be a form of electoral flat-earthering? Will we have episodes like those at the United States Capitol or those in Brasilia following November 19? Let’s hope that Argentine politicians give us moderate and intelligent answers and let’s not start encouraging ahead of time with ideas of fraud.
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