The Public Ministry warned this Thursday that there are electoral crimes that are punishable by imprisonment ranging from one to 10 years of imprisonment. These include: impersonating identity, inducing the vote, publishing the meaning of the vote or disrupting the electoral process.
Crimes against the will of the people
They are the following according to the Penal Code and the Organic Law of Elections:
Identity fraud
The Public Ministry mentions identity theft as a recurring electoral crime. As reported, in the 2018 Regional and Municipal Elections, this motivated the majority of interventions carried out by prosecutors.
In this regard, the Penal Code says in its article 357 that “whoever supplants another voter or votes more than once in the same election or votes without having the right, shall be punished with imprisonment of no less than one or older than 4 years”.
A report from the Monitoring and Alert Center, prepared by the MP’s Crime Observatory, reveals that of the total of 145 adults intervened during the 2018 elections in 26 fiscal districts, 36.5% (49 voters) went for trying to supplant a voter.
According to the superior prosecutor Alfonso Barrenechea, coordinator of the Specialized Prosecutors for Crime Prevention, Some voters are not aware that pretending to vote for another person, in some cases for a family member who cannot vote, is a crime punishable by imprisonment.
For this reason, he urged citizens to avoid incurring in those crimes that affect the normal development of election day.
Political propaganda
Another of the most recurrent crimes, with 29 interventions carried out by the MP in the 2018 elections, was carrying out electoral propaganda during hours when it is suspended (24 hours before the election).
This crime is punishable by up to 2 years in prisonaccording to article 389 of the Organic Law of Elections.
disturbance or impediment
Another serious crime is disturbance or impediment of an electoral process, which is punished with custodial sentence of not less than 3 nor more than 10 years.
In this regard, article 354 of the Criminal Code states that commits the crime “which, with violence or threat, disturbs or prevents the development of a general, parliamentary, regional or municipal electoral process, or the processes of recall or referendum”.
The MP recalled that in 2018, 12 interventions were carried out due to disturbance or impediment to the process.
Article 355 also states that the impediment to the exercise of the right to vote will be punished with custodial sentence of not less than one nor more than 4 years.
In this case, those who, through violence or threats, prevent a voter from exercising their right to vote or force them to do so in a certain way, are punished.
induction to vote
Article 356 of the Penal Code refers to the one that, through gifts, advantages or promises tries to induce a voter not to vote or to vote in a certain sense. In this case it will be suppressed with custodial sentence of not less than one nor more than 4 years.
In 2018, the MP also carried out another 12 interventions by inducing them not to vote or to vote in a certain way.
Illegal advertising of the direction of the vote
The Penal Code also criminalizes the conduct of a voter “that publicizes the meaning of your vote in the electoral act”. This will be suppressed with custodial sentence of not more than one year or community service of twenty to thirty days.
Attacks on the right to vote
Article 359 of the Criminal Code also establishes custodial sentence of not less than two nor more than eight years for whoever carries out a series of actions to prevent or alter the result of an electoral process or favor or harm a candidate or political organization.
These actions include the falsification or destruction of tally sheets; the theft, destruction or substitution of amphorae before the count or ballot papers that have already been deposited by the voters, and the alteration of the result of an election, among others.
All of them are considered crimes against the popular will and the right to vote.
