After coming in third in the Miami-Dade mayoral elections, rejecting the result, demanding a recount of votes due to suspicions of "fraud," and making other controversial statements, the Cuban candidate and influencer Alexander Otaola decided to go on vacation this Saturday.
With the hashtags #vacationsmodeon #dreambeaches #farawayescape, the influencer posted a picture at Miami airport, suggesting that they were going on vacation after suffering an electoral defeat against the current mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, who received 60 percent of the votes.
Without revealing his vacation destination, Otaola posted another image of himself on the plane. "So far away, for God’s sake! I still have several hours to go! America, how great you are," said the vacationer alongside the hashtag #miamibyebye.
In the recently held elections for the Miami-Dade County mayoralty, where the majority of the Spanish-speaking community is of Cuban origin (around one million), Otaola came in third with 12 percent of the votes, behind the Republican mayor of Miami Lakes, Manny Cid, who received 22 percent of the votes.
"We do not recognize the results of these elections until every vote is counted," Otaola told his supporters in a defiant speech after the results were announced.
"If there is no fraud, I will recognize the result, but if there is even a minimal doubt about irregularity, we have the legal right to demand," he added. "We have won, because today we are all winners, because we have achieved what traditional politicians have not."
The candidate for the county mayor urged his supporters to join the petition for a ballot recount. “I ask everyone to be part of that recount, to be present in that recount, and for everyone in Miami-Dade not to settle for the political mediocrity that governs them,” he stated.
Shortly after, Otaola's campaign manager, Andy Santana, argued in an email sent to the Miami-Dade Elections Department that a recount was essential to ensure the accuracy of the results, based on the alleged closeness to victory.
The request was denied by the Department, arguing that "recounts are not done upon request" and explaining that state laws only allowed for an automatic recount when the difference was half a percentage point or less, which was not the case in this election, where Levine Cava surpassed her closest competitor by more than 34 percentage points.
For his part, Otaola appeared on Thursday to explain to his followers how he felt after the electoral results and to clarify that there was still "nothing lost."
"I'm strong, with my head held high. An election is about winning or losing. Anything can happen in an election. Right now, what we are demanding is transparency. We want to see that we lost without any kind of hindrance," said the candidate in a video.
At the same time, he denied that the Department of Elections had dismissed a recount and indicated that the official request had not yet been sent and that there was a ten-day deadline to do so.
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