Twenty votes bought to win in a town of Murcia with the head of Training of the PSOE in the back room

• Live Elections 28-M, live
• 28-M Arrested a senior PSOE official in Murcia, the candidate for mayor of Albudeite and 11 other people in another plot to buy votes

The vote-buying plot dismantled yesterday by the Civil Guard in Albudeite (Murcia) accurately measured the votes needed to change the color of the Mayor's Office in next Sunday's elections. As EL MUNDO has learned, researchers have counted 20 altered votes in favor of the PSOE in a municipality in which in the previous elections, the Socialists were the most voted force by a difference of 15 votes with respect to the PP, which ended up governing

for a covenant with

Citizenry

.

The device resulted in 15 people involved, 13 arrested. All of them were released. Among those arrested is the number 19 of the PSOE candidacy to the Parliament of Murcia that heads

. It is about

who, in addition, is a member of the regional executive of the party as secretary of Training and deputy to Education, FP and Universities. The candidate for mayor for Albudeite,

, was also arrested as well as the person who goes at number six on his list.

The price of the votes ranged between 100 and 200 euros, say sources of the investigation and was offered weeks ago to people registered in the municipality. This figure is common in all networks of this nature dismantled these days by the State Security Forces and Bodies to stop electoral fraud.

The investigations were initiated by chance. The agents of the Armed Institute were investigating a drug trafficking network with branches in the area. In the telephone interventions authorized by the judge leading the investigation, they located conversations that talked about the purchase of votes, how to do it and the figures that were handled, the same sources indicate.

In the 2019 election, the winner did so by only 15 votes.

It was then that the holder of the

(Murcia) opened a separate piece for electoral crime. The modus operandi was to offer money to people who were in a precarious economic situation in exchange for getting the postal vote for the Socialists. To approach them, the network used intermediaries, indicate the same sources. They were in charge of a first contact and, later, of delivering the agreed amounts, as stated in the investigations with which the Benemérita works.

Hector Martinez.

E.M.

In the 2019 elections, the Socialists of Albudeite got 449 votes, while the Popular Party got 434. Popular and

Cs

They reached a pact to divide the legislature into two mandates and remove the PSOE from the rod of command of the municipality. The plot dismantled in Albudeite is another of the hot spots of the end of the campaign.

The

First scenario

Was

, where the

National Police

Investigate the party

(CPM) and two people who were able to request the

vote for the PP

. The investigations started a month and a half ago in a very similar way to what happened in the town of Murcia.

A judicial investigation for drugs exposed the network

It was also an investigation into drug trafficking that brought the alleged vote-buying scheme to light. Suspicions of irregularities soared when the percentage of voters who preferred to vote by mail soared compared to the last election in 2019, reaching 20%. The payments offered to voters for their votes ranged from €50 to €200. In

the

Central Operating Unit

of the Civil Guard (UCO) was deployed early last Wednesday to stop the

Alleged robbery plot

of postal vote led, presumably, by two members of the PSOE of that municipality. This is the

of the PSOE of Mojácar

, and number five,

. One of them was released yesterday late in the afternoon after going to court. The rest of those arrested will sit before the magistrate today.

In addition, a Canarian court is also investigating another similar plot in

. The investigation focuses on the processing by the

of La Gomera of at least twenty digital certificates for the alleged issuance from its dependencies of the postal vote of as many individuals. In some cases without the citizens concerned being present.