Page 101 - Anatomy-of-a-Fraud

“… history shows that during periods of economic crisis, it is virtually
impossible for government parties to stay in power.

Examples do speak for themselves. In every country in the democratic
world where elections have been held during economic crises, the
party in power has lost the elections, many times by a landslide. It has
been so in the United States, in Sweden, in Germany, in France, in
Austria, in Costa Rica, in Spain, in Italy, in Argentina, in Brazil and
even in México, where despite the one-party system that rules the

country, the opposition group within the PRI clinched the presidential
nomination.

The case of Spain in particularly dramatic. The UCD party, in power
and enjoying a comfortable majority in parliament, called for elections
(during a period of economic crisis) and virtually vanished from the

Spanish political map. The ruling party in France sustained a
significant setback at the latest elections and the new government is
already feeling the impact of important defeats in municipal elections,
due to the French people’s disenchantment with the socialist

administration.”

To this rather lengthy list of countries, one must add Venezuela and
Ecuador.

Now to Panama’s “unique” case.

Pro-government forces had conducted polls that showed them losing the
elections. ADO polls confirmed these forecasts. Undaunted, the regime decided to
make some adjustments to the electoral machinery. It proceeded to tamper with official
voter lists, to create “factitious listings” and the “Special Listing”; to appoint partial
individuals to electoral posts; to produce forged records and to distribute ballots prior
to the elections. It was believed that all these tricks, together with a systematic vote-
buying spree, would be enough to ensure Barletta’s victory. They were not.

In the early hours of May 7, results indicated that Barletta lost. The Defense
Forces General Staff learned of his defeat before anyone else. They of course had an
efficient communications network and a legion of political workers. The second stage
of the fraud was implemented at this time.

It called for arbitrary challenges that succeeded in diverting thousands of votes
from ADO totals. The law provided, however, that challenges could be filed only
during a 24-hour period following the end of vote counting at the precinct in question.