Former mayors indicted for withholding voters' documents

Argentina's National Electoral Chamber has upheld the indictment of two former mayors from Maipú, Lorena Andrea Otermín and Matías Rappallini, who are accused of a scheme to withhold voters' identity documents. The alleged actions were intended to prevent citizens from casting their ballots in the October 27, 2019 national elections.

“

An electoral system in a democratic state has as its primary purpose to guarantee the free expression of the sovereign will of the people.

The indictment, signed by judges Alberto Dalla Vía, Santiago Corcuera, and Daniel Bejas, details accusations that the former officials coordinated efforts to obtain and retain the identification documents of numerous individuals. This was reportedly done through various illicit means, including offering money, municipal favors, or access to social assistance programs. In some instances, food, construction materials, and mattresses were allegedly exchanged for voters' documents.

“

It is known the eminent place that political rights have in the articulation of representative democracy, whose essence lies in the right of citizens to participate in public affairs and freely choose their rulers.

Many of the affected electors, who testified as victims, were unable to vote as they did not recover their documents before the election day. The accused face charges for engaging in coordinated actions that involved "the exercise of violence, intimidation, threats, coercion, deception, and/or illegitimate offers of money, goods, and/or access to state assistance programs or benefits, aimed at obtaining the identity documents of numerous people with the purpose of retaining them, and thus preventing them from exercising their right to vote and/or compelling them to vote for specific candidates."

“

The root of all democratic system is the suffrage without whose recognition there is no people or popular institutions.

The judges underscored the critical importance of free and fair elections in a democratic state. "An electoral system in a democratic state has as its primary purpose to guarantee the free expression of the sovereign will of the people," the ruling stated. They emphasized that the right to vote is fundamental to representative democracy, and withholding documents, even temporarily, effectively imposes a "civil death" by denying individuals their political rights and participation in public affairs. The court stressed that the electorate is the ultimate source of sovereignty, and the act of voting is the basis of governmental legitimacy.

“

The retention of documents intended to prove identity, even if temporary, would imply condemning the person to a sort of civil death, as they would be deprived, among others, of the exercise of political rights.