By Marco Garcia

ABSTRACT

The year 2024 constitutes the biggest election year in history with 83 elections across 78 countries with more than 4 billion people expected to go to the polls, which represents nearly half of the world population.

In this new series, London Politica’s Intelligence Support Group and the Emergent Technologies department collaborate to provide in-depth case studies based on OSINT (Open Source Intelligence Analysis) investigation. 

The Mexican elections of 2 June 2024, heralded as the largest in the nation's history, underscored the prevailing influence of disinformation on the political landscape. The electoral process involved over 96 million eligible voters deciding on more than 20,000 public office positions, including the presidency, the entire Congress, and various governorships. This moment was pivotal, not only because of its scale but also due to its impact on the country's future political trajectory.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• Historically, the mid-1990s marked a pivotal shift for Mexico as political liberalism emerged, promoting democratic norms against the backdrop of a previously dominant single-party system led by the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI). However, recent trends (post the 2000 election) indicate a regression towards corporatism.

• There is a shift resembling the consolidated, single-party system that dominated Mexico’s political past during the 20th century.

• Disinformation campaigns that sought to secure political advantages for all political forces happened regularly throughout the electoral period in Mexico. 

• Some media actors deliberately disseminated disinformation to sway public opinion, while everyday users unknowingly reshared it as misinformation and later retracted their posts upon discovering the truth.