The PP fuels suspicions of electoral fraud in Extremadura due to the theft of 124 votes at a post office

BarcelonaA "common robbery," according to the Civil Guard; an attempt to "steal democracy," according to the People's Party (PP). The penultimate day of the election campaign in Extremadura was marked by a robbery at a post office in Fuente de Cantos, a town of 4,500 inhabitants in the province of Badajoz. Among the loot from the safe were 124 ballots intended for Sunday's elections. The PP candidate and current regional president, María Guardiola, released a video on social media in which she denounced that "they are stealing our democracy before our very eyes." "There are only three days left until these crucial elections, and someone wants to prevent the people of Extremadura from having the right to decide," she concluded. She also added that "many citizens who requested postal votes did not receive the PP ballot." For Guardiola, there is a strategy to "undermine the foundations of our freedom": "They want to silence us and choose for us. I will not remain silent, I will not allow it." The leader of the national PP party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has also weighed in: he has asked Pedro Sánchez's government to explain how this could have happened and has accused it of trying to "cover up" the facts. The Civil Guard, however, does not subscribe to the conspiracy theory. According to sources consulted by Europa Press, the force is investigating the case, which is not limited to Fuente de Cantos: there were also robberies at the post offices in Santa Amalia and Torremejía. They indicate that in the Fuente de Cantos case, the thieves took the entire safe, which contained the 124 lost votes as well as 14,000 euros. Hours later, the safe was found "completely burned" with the ballots scattered around the area. There was no trace of the money. At the other polling stations, the safe was not taken, and office and sales supplies were missing. Since October, EFE reports, up to nine similar thefts have been carried out, most recently in Talavera la Real and Villafranco del Guadiana. In the final stretch of the campaign, the People's Party (PP) has seized upon these thefts as an opportunity to raise the issue of electoral fraud. This is not the first time the PP has questioned the integrity of the elections. In the last general election, Feijóo denounced a supposed intention on the part of the postal service to prevent citizens from exercising their right to vote, following the line taken by Donald Trump in the United States when he lost to Joe Biden in 2020.

The strategy of the PP and Vox

In addition to Guardiola's video and Feijóo's demand that the Spanish government investigate the matter, the People's Party (PP) has also requested a public protocol from the Electoral Board for the handling and safekeeping of postal votes, so that any citizen can know the location of their ballot and where it is being held. The PP's Secretary General, Miguel Tellado, further fueled suspicions about the elections, claiming that "someone has a vested interest in breaking the rules to alter the outcome." This theory has also been supported by the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal. "There is a corrupt mafia capable of anything, even manipulating electoral processes to stay in power," he stated, conveniently ignoring the fact that the Civil Guard is not working on this hypothesis. The PSOE, in turn, has reacted by accusing Feijóo of stirring up "the fake news of electoral fraud" in Extremadura out of fear of the far right: "There's nervousness surrounding Vox, which the PP has whitewashed and is now gaining ground."