schema:articleBody
| - Mexico's foreign minister on Friday hit out at the head of the Organization of American States, which will monitor elections this weekend, calling his performance "one of the worst in history." Marcelo Ebrard said that an OAS team can observe Sunday's legislative elections if it complies with the law, but he roundly criticized its Secretary General Luis Almagro of Uruguay. "The performance of the OAS secretary general, Mr Almagro, has been one of the worst in history and we have told him so in the sessions," Ebrard told reporters. Almagro "has acted repeatedly without consulting the member states. He acts as if he were autonomous, independent," he added. Ebrard cited the OAS's role in the 2019 Bolivian elections, which he said facilitated what was "practically a coup in a country with an uninterrupted democratic life." An OAS audit into that vote concluded that then-president Evo Morales's re-election was fraudulent and he resigned after losing the support of the army amid violent protests. It will be the fifth time that the organization has observed Mexican elections. OAS monitors last week expressed "deep concern" about political violence ahead of the vote for 500 members of the lower house of Congress, 15 state governors and thousands of local politicians. Dozens of politicians have been murdered in the months leading up to the polls, which are seen as critical to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's reform agenda. nc/dr/sst
|