On Sept. 26, 2023, the would-be candidate reported on X that “thousands of people are having problems with the INE app. We are going to have to make a lot of live videos on social media so that they can see all the glitches that the application is having.”
By mid-December, with the deadline for collecting signatures approaching, Verástegui wrote on X: “The blow to democracy that the INE is dealing is not against me: It is striking all Mexicans who want change.”
“The anti-democratic exercise of the failed (or intentionally failed) application called ‘Citizen Support’ is insulting all Mexicans who have the right to express their disagreement with the situation in the country,” he added.
Interviewed by ACI Prensa on Jan. 25, Omar de la Rosa Silva, coordinator of Fuerza Verástegui (The Verástegui Force, a citizen network promoting his candidacy) and president of the National Political Council Citizen Action MX, agreed with the accusations of what he considers the National Electoral Institute’s “totally undemocratic” app.
De la Rosa pointed out that the digital application “did not allow effective and timely progress in the [effort to] collect signatures.”
In addition, he noted that the technological platform still faces great challenges, derived from the “socio-demographic and age diversity” of the possible signatories as well as the “technological inequality” in the country.
However, “despite this result,” De la Rosa sees strength in the movement and believes that it helps them promote “the conservative agenda at the national level.”
Who is left in the race?
The Voto Católico platform has constantly monitored the candidates’ positions on crucial issues such as the defense of life, human dignity, euthanasia, family, comprehensive education, religious freedom, and conscientious objection.
Verástegui was considered the best candidate for defending life, family, and freedoms in Mexico.
Three candidates currently remain in the race for president of Mexico: Claudia Sheinbaum, a member of the ruling Morena party — which was founded by current president Andrés Manuel López Obrador — heads the left-wing coalition Together We Make History; Xóchitl Gálvez of the opposition National Action Party (PAN) is the candidate of the political coalition Broad Front for Mexico; and Jorge Álvarez Máynez is running for the Citizen Movement.
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Gálvez has expressed her support for the legalization of abortion, stating that this practice is an “individual decision of the woman” in a message accompanied by the slogans “#AbortoLegalYa” (“Legal abortion now”) and “#QueSubaLaMarea” (“Let the tide rise”). Additionally, she has expressed her support for the “diversity” and “rights” of the LGBT community. Regarding drug legalization, Gálvez has supported regulation rather than prohibition of cannabis.
Sheinbaum has also stated her position that she is in favor of the legalization of abortion. When Roe v. Wade was overturned in the U.S. in 2022, Sheinbaum, who until recently headed the Mexico City government, said it was “a setback.” Oliva López Arellano, who was Sheinbaum’s secretary of health at the time, offered the Mexican capital as an alternative for foreigners seeking abortion.
Additionally, during her tenure as head of government of Mexico City, Sheinbaum backed a decree that allows adolescents older than 12 years of age to change their “gender identity” on their birth certificate through an administrative process.
Voto Católico gives Álvarez an unfavorable rating in the areas of right to life and family.
Leaders well known for defending life, family, and freedoms in Mexico told ACI Prensa that the electoral scene poses major challenges.
Juan Dabdoub, president of the Mexican Family Council (ConFamilia), said the political future is “very negative for pro-life and pro-family” in the country.