The consultation of revocation of mandate that takes place this Sunday is marked in its first hours by the participation of older adults, who go to the polls to express their support for President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The attendees affirm that they go to the polls to exercise their right to participate in the recall exercise, to support López Obrador and for the pension that every two months they receive from the federal government, according to testimonies collected by Animal Político.
In Guadalajara, Jalisco, Juan Martinez, 85, said he came out of conviction and so that they do not take away that support for older adults. In the consultation, people are asked whether or not they want López Obrador’s position revoked, but the continuity or not of any social program is not contemplated.
Also in Guadalajara, Maria Ibarra, 77, went to vote at the special polling place set up at the Cabañas Cultural Institute. In an interview, she said that she participated because for her at this time the pension given to her by the federal government is indispensable.
Two other seniors, Benigno, 80, and Jose, 62, also voted at the Cabañas Cultural Institute. Both said they want to endorse their support for the president for the help he gives to this age group.
In boxes installed in Culiacán and Mazatlan, Sinaloa, there are also lines of older adults who come to the polls.
Similar situations are reported in polling stations in Hidalgo and Puebla, according to local media reports.
“We come to support our president”
In Iztapalapa, Mexico City, José Pablo Arriaga went to vote early to express his support for López Obrador.
“He’s the best president we’ve ever had… less of a thief,” he said.
Inside the same mayor’s office in the east of the capital, in a box installed in the Quetzalcoatl Urban Development Unit, even a woman in a wheelchair attended, who was accompanied by her son and supported to mark the ballot because she could not hold the crayola.
“We come to support our president. We are happy and happy that he is rescuing what was stolen,” said Cristina López, another elderly woman, who voted in the box located in the museum of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, in the Cuauhtémoc Mayor’s Office.
In Nezahualcóyotl, State of Mexico, people who identify themselves as “mobilizers of the vote” accompany older adults to vote in polling stations in the Modelo neighborhood. Questioned about their work, these “mobilizers” denied receiving any salary for that task and assured that they do not influence the votes, but only “count” the number of voters.
Also in the State of Mexico, in Atizapan, Clementina Sánchez González said she went to vote at the Municipal Palace because it is her right and she hopes that her opinion will be taken into account.
Meanwhile, in Texcoco, a stronghold of Morena, the political party of President López Obrador, little influx is reported so far.
There, Elitania Espinosa, 61, and her husband, Sergio Díaz, 64, accused that the electoral authority changed some polling places at the last minute and that this has generated confusion among citizens and little voting.
“We are not satisfied with the INE. He is against the government and seems to be calling not to vote,” Sergio said.
🔴 This Sunday the consultation of Revocation of Mandate of the President @lopezobrador_ is held in Mexico.
Follow the coverage of this exercise here 👇
📸 Photos: @EAndreaVega and @ManuVPC. pic.twitter.com/U0422Weerl
— Animal Politico (@Pajaropolitico) April 10, 2022
Installed boxes and other age groups
Until the cut of 12:00 hours, the National Electoral Institute (INE) reported that 56,941 polling stations had been installed out of a total of 57,448 planned: 99.12%.
Although the participation is mostly from older adults, there are also younger people.
Beneli Hernández, for example, is from Zacatecas but went to vote in the special box of the Ex Hipódromo de Peralvillo neighborhood, in the CDMX.
In Gustavo A. Madero, Dolores Ávila went to vote with her husband at the polling place in the Pemex Housing Unit. He said he wanted to exercise his right to participate.
With information from Samedi Aguirre, Siboney Flores, Sharenii Guzmán, Lizeth Ovando, Dalila Sarabia, Manu Ureste and Andrea Vega, as well as ‘Criterio’ in Hidalgo, ‘Manatí’ in Puebla and ‘Noroeste’ in Sinaloa.
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