Page 105 - Anatomy-of-a-Fraud

On the other hand, the fraudulent official figures were as follows:

UNADE: 300,748
ADO: 299,035

Margin of Barletta’s alleged victory: 1,713

This narrow margin of 1,713 votes does not represent a hotly contested
election. Quite the contrary: it points to the enormous magnitude of the opposition vote
and the difficulties the government encountered in perpetrating its fraud.

It should be stated, however, that the discrepancies between ADO and
“official” figures is mainly due to those precinct results not reviewed by the National
Returns Board or the Electoral Tribunal, and to the fraud committed in Indian regions
(Circuit 4-4 and San Blas). It was not out of a whim that the presiding judge of the
Electoral Tribunal refused to vote for the resolution proclaiming Barletta the president
elect.

It is interesting to note that on May 25, 1984, Guillermo Cochez, filed a
complaint with the Office of the Electoral District Attorney, asking that the voter lists
used at each of the 3,902 precincts be compared against the official roster of registered
voters. The complaint also asked that the 3,902 lists be compared to one another. The
purpose was to determine whether in fact –as the opposition claimed– thousands of
voters were illegally included in the electoral process while, at the same time,
thousands of opposition sympathizers were purged from the final lists. This verification
would make it possible to determine whether –as the opposition also contended–
thousands of voters voted more than once. As might have been expected, this complaint
has produced no results; its fate has been the same of numerous other electoral
complaints, quietly ignored despite their solid grounds.

A government convinced of the legitimacy of the elections would no doubt
have attempted to dispel the uncertainty and skepticism surrounding Barletta’s
proclamation. Indeed, the highest church authorities in the country urged it to do so.
“Faced with lingering doubts, we urge those responsible for the Electoral Tribunal to
leave no stone unturned in order to offer the public the most objective and satisfactory
48
information on every aspect related to the presidential and legislative elections”. For
instance, the Tribunal could have acted on the complaint filed by Cochez. That,
however, would have involved exposing an important part of the fraud. And whatever
else they may be, they are no fools. Therefore, they turned a deaf ear to the Catholic
bishops’ plea and went on, business as usual.

48 Statement of the Panamanian Bishops Conference on the Electoral Process, point 25.