Mexico’s general election will occur in early June, marking the end of a record-breaking campaign season. Approximately 30 candidates have been killed in the last month.

Mexico is experiencing unrestrained electoral violence. Noé Ramos Ferretiz, a candidate for the municipal presidency of Mante, a city in Tamaulipas, was stabbed multiple times while campaigning last Friday.

The lawmaker, a member of the National Action Party (PAN), died in the middle of the ceremony, shocking his fans. Following that, photographs of blood-stained pamphlets circulated widely.

More than 270 political candidates in Mexico have requested official protection ahead of the June general election, highlighting a cycle of political violence that is undermining Mexican democracy.

According to Semafor, at least 15 federal candidates have been slain this campaign season, and 28 have been attacked, although this is only a fraction of the violence observed among the 70,000 candidates competing for municipal and state elections. Over the past five years, independent think tanks have reported over 800 political attacks.

According to analysts, government policy has long overlooked addressing the root causes of teenage involvement in organized crime, and the topic has emerged as a prominent discussion subject among presidential candidates.

Voters in Mexico Discouraged

A Mexican election security think tank director told El Economista that each attack on a candidate reduces voter turnout by roughly 1.3%. Voters are aware that organized crime is “violating their public administration, state, and government,” according to the director, and many people believe that their vote will have little impact on violence.

Political violence in Mexico has increased significantly under President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and former President Enrique Peña Nieto. According to El Economista, political murders are now three times greater than in the mid-2000s.

The National Electoral Institute (INE) has released a uniform security protocol to protect candidates, but Animal Politico, a socialist online publication, claims that the strategy “does not cover the vast majority of victims” who are local government officials.

According to the paper, approximately 77% of political victims in Mexico are candidates running for city or state government. However, the past three presidential administrations have prioritized federal law enforcement over “strengthening local institutions,” such as cracking down on corruption among local police.

Hugs Not Bullets

Animal Politico suggested that local economic and social change must occur “in parallel” with INE security protocols to prevent organized crime from infiltrating local law enforcement.

Critics have lambasted Claudia Sheinbaum, one of the presidential candidates running in June, for endorsing López Obrador’s “hugs, not bullets” strategy to ending the so-called drug war. Supporters of the method claim it is an attempt to “moralize” the federal security force, while analysts argue the tactic has contributed to an increase in violence in Mexico.

Sheinbaum is rebranding “hugs, not bullets” as a socioeconomic reform strategy as she faces increased criticism over the spike in political assassinations. “Of course, it’s not about hugging criminals; no one has ever said that,” Sheinbaum said at a recent rally, adding that her security program will prioritize economic growth to keep Mexican kids out of organized crime.

Despite López Obrador’s history of violence, he remains widely popular, and Sheinbaum, whom The New York Times refers to as his “protégée,” leads opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez by 30 points, according to one recent poll.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stated that he does not oppose Islam or Muslims and encourages the community to consider their future progress as they vote in the upcoming general election, which concludes its third round on Tuesday.

Critics accuse Modi and his party of targeting minority Muslims for electoral benefit, and the claims intensified after Modi referred to Muslims as “infiltrators” with “more children” in a recent address.

He denied discriminating against Muslims and related his recent remarks to what he described as the opposition Congress party’s election plan to shift the wealth of the majority Hindus to Muslims. The Congress denies making any such promises.

“We are not opposed to Islam and Muslims,” Modi said in an interview with Times Now on Monday. “The opposition is concerned with its own profit. “The Muslim community is intelligent… the opposition is concerned that their lies have been exposed.”

Modi is running for a remarkable third consecutive term in the seven-phase election, which began on April 19 and finishes on June 1. Eleven states and territories will vote in the third phase on Tuesday, and polls indicate Modi will win convincingly when the results are announced on June 4.

His campaign began by highlighting the economic gains of the previous ten years, but after the first phase of voting, he shifted gears, denouncing rivals as pro-Muslim.

“I want to encourage the Muslim community to reflect and consider. The country is improving; if you notice any faults in your community, what is the cause? Why didn’t you receive government benefits when Congress was in power?

Analysts say Modi and his Hindu nationalist party have made inflammatory remarks to energize their hardline base since voter turnout is lower than in past years. According to Reuters, voters’ top worries are jobs and inflation.

“Think of your children and your own future,” Modi urged, alluding to Muslims and elections. “I don’t want any community to live like labourers because someone is scaring them.”

Elections in India

India’s elections are a spectacular display of democracy in action. Millions voted, seeking to influence the country’s future. However, claims of vote-buying, intimidation, and fraud frequently cloud the election process.

Rival parties accuse each other of dirty tricks, and the Election Commission strains to remain fair.

Despite the hurdles, India’s elections demonstrate the durability of its democracy. In isolated villages, the elderly and crippled face long waits to exercise their rights.

Young voters in cities swarm to polling stations, eager to have their voices heard. The campaigns are emotional events, with rallies drawing large crowds and social media playing an important part.

When the results are announced, jubilation spread across the country. The victorious party celebrates, while the losers pledge to fight another day.

But the true victors are the Indian people, who have reaffirmed their dedication to the democratic process, however faulty it may be. India’s elections serve as a reminder that democracy is a never-ending struggle, but one worth fighting for.

As campaigning heated up in India’s election, deepfake videos involving two top advisers of Prime Minister Narendra Modi have sparked police investigations and the arrest of some staffers from his opponent Congress party.

In what has been dubbed India’s first AI election, Modi said last week that artificial voices were being used to allegedly show leaders making “statements that we have never even thought of,” calling it a conspiracy “to create tension in society.”

Indian police, who are already investigating the spread of fake videos featuring Bollywood actors criticizing Modi, are now looking into a doctored online clip in which federal home minister Amit Shah says the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party will end certain social guarantees for minorities, a sensitive issue for millions of voters.

Shah responded to X by uploading both his “original” and the altered “fake” speech and claiming — without offering any evidence — that the main opposition Congress was behind the video it prepared to deceive the people. The minister stated: “Directions have been issued to the police to address this issue.”

Nine arrested in India

According to police comments, Indian police arrested at least nine persons last week, including six members of Congress’ social media teams, in the states of Assam, Gujarat, Telangana, and New Delhi for disseminating the phony film.

Five Congress members were released on bail, but the most high-profile arrest by New Delhi police’s cybercrime squad occurred on Friday, when they nabbed Arun Reddy, a Congress national social media coordinator, for uploading the video. In New Delhi, Shah’s government has direct control over the police. Reddy has been taken into custody for three days.

Congress staffers have protested the detention, with many posting on X with the hashtag #ReleaseArunReddy. Manickam Tagore, a Congress member, claimed the detention was an example of “authoritarian abuse of power by the regime.”

Supriya Shrinate, Congress’ head of social media, did not respond to texts or an email requesting comment. The Indian election, which will take place between April 19 and June 1, will be the world’s largest democratic event.

With almost a billion voters and over 800 million internet users, combating the spread of misinformation is a high-stakes task. It entails round-the-clock monitoring by police and election officials, who frequently issue takedown orders to Facebook and X when investigations begin.

Ai Generated Deepfake Videos

More than 500 workers in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, monitor internet content, flagging contentious messages and liaising with social media firms to remove them as needed, police chief Prashant Kumar told Reuters on Saturday.

Another deepfake video that went viral last week depicted Yogi Adityanath, the state’s chief minister, condemning Modi for not doing enough to help the relatives of those killed in a 2019 militant attack.

Though fact-checkers believed the video was made using different bits of an original tape, state police described it as a “AI generated, deepfake”.

On May 2, state police detained Shyam Gupta, who had published the phony video post on X the day before, with over 3,000 views and 11 likes.

The police have charged Gupta with forgery and inciting enmity under Indian law, which carries a maximum seven-year prison sentence if convicted. Reuters was unable to approach him since he is now serving a 14-day detention sentence.
“This person is not a technology expert. “If he had been tech savvy, we would not have been able to arrest him so quickly,” stated Police Officer Kumar.

Source: Reuters