Pre-Election Day Violence Spikes in Mexico

Frontera NorteSur: Less than two weeks before Mexicans are scheduled to go to the polls in mid-term Congressional, municipal and state elections, violence is on the upswing. The most affected regions include the border city of Tijuana, the Chihuahua-Sinaloa borderlands, and the states of Tamaulipas, Guerrero, Michoacan and Jalisco.

Tijuana killings between groups of street-level drug dealers apparently connected to the Sinaloa, Jalisco New Generation (CJNG) and Arellano Felix cartels, the last group repeatedly declared finished by U.S. and Mexican authorities, recalls the bloodletting of the past decade when the city was considered one of the most violent in the country.

Later touted for its presumed public safety, Tijuana recently has been replete with narco banners threatening individuals displayed in public, executions in broad daylight and the dumping of victims’ severed heads on public streets.

Violence haunts Mexico's election campaign

AFP: One murdered candidate, others threatened, bodyguards assigned to gubernatorial wannabes and calls for a boycott: The June election campaign in Mexico's Wild West is off to a rough start.

The June 7 mid-term vote for federal and state seats will be the first major ballot test for President Enrique Pena Nieto, almost half-way through his six-year term. Read more.

Protests hammer Mexican president's popularity as elections loom

Trust: The popularity of Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has sunk amid concerns about his handling of security problems and corruption, polls showed on Monday, in a sign that his ruling party could lose ground in elections next year.

Polls noted the sharp drop in his approval rating since the apparent massacre of 43 trainee teachers students and a conflict of interest scandal involving a home being purchased by the first lady.  Read more. 

Mexico vote-buying scandal threatens president's agenda of reforms

Los Angeles Times
By Tracy Wilkinson
April 23, 2013

Mexico City - Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Tuesday faced the most serious political crisis of his young government, an explosive dispute with rival parties over electoral dirty tricks that could imperil his ambitious reform plans.

Peña Nieto's highly touted Pact for Mexico, a kind of blueprint for his administration's agenda that had seemed to have won consensus from most major political groups, was on the verge of collapse after fresh reports of vote-buying by the president's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

The government was forced to cancel a series of public events under the auspices of the Pact for Mexico to avoid the embarrassment of a boycott by the main opposition factions.

The first casualty would appear to be a broad reform to overhaul Mexico's financial sector, which was scheduled to be unveiled Tuesday.  Read more. 

Protests Against Elections Heat Up with "National March Against the Imposition"

Photo: Clayton Conn

Mexicans hit the streets again on Sunday, in the third mass demonstration against the apparent president-elect, Enrique Peña Nieto, in the three weeks since the elections. After months of demonstrations, Mexico's movement to reject the return of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)
shows no signs of fading away.

The July 22 "National March Against the Imposition" began at the presidential residence and arrived shortly after noon at Mexico City's Angel of Independence. Hundreds of people waited to join at the gold-tipped monument, swelling the ranks as students, unions, and citizens moved on to the central plaza.

At the final destination, tens of thousands poured into the square. They marched in clumps and converged from different routes, making it impossible to grasp the full dimension of the march at any given moment. But what the mobilization lacked in route planning, it made up for in energy, indignation and creativity.

This was about the fifth or sixth march against the PRI and its candidate that I've observed first-hand.  I wanted to check out two questions at this one: 1) what difference, if any, the coalition of organizations forged during the National Convention July 14-15 made and 2) what the main demands are, as election day fades into history and evidence of foul play mounts. I also wanted to see if accusations that the student-led movement is controlled by the opposition Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) had any substance behind them.

Organizations like the electricians union (SME) and the democratic current of the teachers' union (CNTE) that took part in the planning meeting in the town of Atenco turned out, although not in huge  numbers. The march was called just a week after the accords in Atenco and most organizations have to go through a series of assemblies to make decisions. It may take longer to really assess the impact of the formal incorporation of other sectors into the movement against Peña Nieto and the PRI.

Some unions and universities walked in contingents but for the most part, the march--unlike most Mexico marches--was made up of citizens with home-made signs who marched without visible organizations. Most were young, some were older, including veterans of past movements. The predominance of seemingly unaffiliated people added to the sense of spontaneity of the demonstration, but also to questions about its longer term direction and longevity.

National March Against the Imposition
Since the elections and accusations of fraud, vote-buying and coercion, the marches against the PRI have focused more on the electoral process. "Imposition" refers to the protesters' belief that Peña Nieto was imposed on voters through a series of manipulations and falsifications that violated electoral laws and the popular will. Recent demonstrations called by the student group "Iam132" continue to before the elections denounced the candidate, the way the highly concentrated mass media openly promoted his candidacy and the possible return of the PRI. Most of the students who make up the movement have no real memory of living under a PRI government, since the conservative National Action Party (PAN) has held the presidency for the past twelve years. One young woman carried a sign that read, "We are the children of the ideals you never succeeded in killing".

Photo: Clayton Conn

They have done their history homework. In one of the first demonstration against Televisa, the giant television conglomerate accused of having sold favorable coverage to Peña Nieto as far back as 2009, students projected scenes from the PRI government's massacre of protesting students in 1968 and 1971 against the wall of the media giant's office building. The ruling elite that controlled a one-party system to perpetuate itself in power eternally is a legend they don't want to repeat.

An Ominous Response
The march was replicated in scores of cities across the country and by groups of #Yosoy132  in other countries. Unlike past marches, the July 22 marches met with a violent response from the government in various cities. In Leon, police picked up several protesters and drove them around for three hours, captive, before taking them into detention.

In Oaxaca City, state and federal police arrested and allegedly beat up youth protesters, sexually threatening and abusing the women.

Here is part of the statement from the #YoSoy132 movement:

We also demand the a full explanation of the physical and legal situation of the 24 young people arrested--including two minors, identified in the #YoSoy132 movement, who were arbitrarily imprisoned by state government officials in Oaxaca City. We call on the competent authorities to investigate the cases and clear their names. We request that the officials involved in the various violation of human rights be sanctioned for their acts.

We repudiate the unjustified or disproportionate use of force, arbitrary arrest, torture, just to mention a few, repression that denies freedom of expression and the free manifestation of ideas, as well as abuse of power, threats and harassment against members of social movements. We therefore demand these cases be cleared up and public officials brought to justice and that state and federal authorities prosecute cases of complaints related to these events.

 The violent and arbitrary response by police in these cities could be an ominous sign. The movement continues to insist on peaceful and non-confrontational tactics as it moves into a series of actions decided at the National Convention. The July 22 march was the first of those actions It showed that the movement still has a great ability to draw people into the streets for organized protests-- even weeks after elections that the media and political elite attempted to portray as an unassailable victory-- and among those protestors the rejection of the PRI candidate runs as strong as ever.

As for the second question--what are longer term strategies, beyond the action plan from here to Dec. 1--in all the enthusiasm of the march, I couldn't discern any. The people I talked to said for now, the focus is on consolidating the movement and making its voice here from now to the inauguration.

Mexico's old ruling party falls short of majority

In the lower house of Congress, it is expected that 240 seats will go to the PRI and the Green Party, 10 to the New Alliance Party, 114 to the PAN, and 101 to the PRD, although the PRD is also allied with smaller parties (together the progressive party could have 136 seats). Final totals are still to be determined in a few weeks.

AP: MEXICO CITY - Mexico's old ruling party and its allies appear to have fallen just short of a majority in both houses of Congress, electoral authorities said Tuesday, giving smaller parties the potential of leveraging their swing votes and increasing the likelihood that parties will try to poach congressmen from rivals.

The Institutional Revolutionary Party, which held Mexico's presidency for 71 years, has been declared the winner of the July 1 presidential elections, marking its first return to the presidency since 2000. Read more.

Polls, a false reflection of the electoral reality

La Jornada: Americas Program Original Translation
See Spanish Original.

Electoral preferences according to surveys (January 2012) La Jornada

- Everyone gave the PRI candidate, Enrique Peña, a large lead
- After learning the official figures their inaccuracies became clear

The bad publicity against Enrique Peña Nieto would be enough to send any candidate to the bottom of the polls, but not in Mexico, wrote Randal C. Archibald, correspondent for The New York Times, on June 12th. The writer was referring to the extramarital affairs of the aspiring presidential PRI candidate, the indications of corruption various PRI leaders were involved in, the PAN members that warned of the negotiations between the public and the organized crime were Peña Nieto to become President, and the marches and protests against him led by students. 

It is an understatement to say these factors create a negative public opinion of the candidate from Mexico, that began before his campaign registration: on December 3rd of last year, when the pre-candidate suffered from a mistake at the International Book Fair in Guadalajara. 

The social networks buzzed with sarcastic comments, which were made worse by an unfortunate response from the politician's daughter and were fed, throughout the month, with subsequent nonsense from the own Peña Nieto: his not knowing the minimum wage or the price of the tortilla (saying that he was not the woman of the house). Then came the severe defamation by Carlos Fuentes: This man has no right to be president of Mexico because of his ignorance.

At the beginning of December of last year, the surveys were giving the candidate from Mexico 50 per cent of the votes, or more, although by then Humberto Moreira had already been dismissed as the national president of the PRI for his alleged responsibility in the state Coahuila that he governed for its indebtedness scandal. However, on January 10th of this year, BGC-Ulises Beltrán and Associates continued giving him half of the intended votes (compared to 26 and 24 per cent, Josefina Vázquez Mota and Andrés Manuel López Obrador respectively). While, at the end of this month Consulta Mitofsky reduced his standing by three points, to situate him in 50 per cent of voter preferences (28 for JVM and 22 for AMLO). Roy Campos acknowledged that the fall of the PRI could be a consequence of its own errors in December (Graph 1: surveys in January).

Immigrants express shock at return of Mexico's PRI

AP: Mexico's new president may dissuade some immigrants from returning home, despite promising economic opportunities there and a faltering U.S. job market.

SAN DIEGO — Mexico's new president may dissuade some immigrants from returning home, despite promising economic opportunities there and a faltering U.S. job market.

The vast majority of the 40,000 Mexican expatriates who voted in Sunday's election cast ballots against President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto. Many immigrants said Monday that they were shocked his Institutional Revolutionary Party - which largely convinced them to leave their homeland - has returned to power.

"I think most immigrants kind of fled Mexico because of the PRI, and they still carry visions of a PRI that was corrupt and murderous," said Guadalupe Sandoval, an 18-year-old San Diego college student who said she closely watched the race. "I'm definitely surprised." Read more. 

Panicked shopping in Soriana from fear the PRI will cancel gift cards

La Jornada: Americas Program Original Translation by Ryan Gentzler
See Spanish original.

The fear that fraud would be discovered caused several locations of the national supermarket chain Soriana to be overrun early this week. Hundreds of people from the State of Mexico and the Federal District who had sold their votes to the PRI-PVEM coalition exchanged the prepaid cards they had been given for food and electronics. “They said they had been told that they were going to cancel the electronic cards. They’re worried because we already voted.”

Another theory behind the cards being cancelled was that Martha Angón, a candidate for mayor in Nezahualcóyotl, was losing. “But that’s not my fault. I saw that Peña Nieto's wife raised his hand [in celebration of his victory], so it worked.”

Customers began redeeming the cards, identified by cashiers of the chain as “the vouchers that the PRI gave them so that Peña would win," Friday night within the Federal District limits and the municipality of Nezahualcóyotl,

They were initially offered only one hundred pesos [about $8] for their votes, said those who received cards. But the amount increased as the election came closer. “Yesterday – Sunday, July 1st – you went to the poll, you voted, you took a picture of the ballot marked for PRI, you showed them it and they gave you the card,” explained Rocío Ugalde.

Photo: Election day in Mexico City

A 63% voter turnout in this election, which showed good citizen involvement, and was higher than the turnout in 2006 (Photo: Rafael Stedile)

(Photo: Rafael Stedile) 

Laura's Blog: Elections over, but uncertainty remains

#Iam132 march before the election (Rodrigo Jardon)

Yesterday, we at the Americas Program team spread to various points of the country and participated in the elections, as citizens, accredited observers, reporters or a combination. Despite praise for Mexico's democracy throughout the press, none of us encountered a smoothly functioning electoral system.

I was in Colonia Tortuga, in southern Mexico City and later in the Zócalo, watching the press and checking out the long lines at the various polling places. I've also been doing interviews with international and national press and finding that following the elections, there is little patience for a voice of dissent and criticisms are largely seen as raining on the parade of democratic succession here. With notable exceptions, fraud is not being discussed in polite circles. Pundits are willing to discuss the pros and cons of a return of the PRI but few talk about what happened to democracy itself this time around. Even in the international arena, the pre-written script of the victory of Enrique Peña Nieto seems to require this last scene of universal acceptance to usher in the era of a new PRI that looks identical to the old PRI and has the same DNA.

#Iam132 organized candle-lit march (Rodrigo Jardon) 

President Obama called to congratulate the PRI candidate, days before the official results are out and before his closest opponent, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, has conceded. It seemed a rude and unnecessary form of pressure for the U.S. government to jump ahead of the Mexican electoral authorities in proclaiming a winner.

I wrote this article "From the Perfect Dictatorship to the Imperfect Democracy" directly in Spanish, while watching the results until 4 AM last night. You can see it here. I thought a lot about whether given the dirty tricks and numerous obstacles to the exercise of the vote, the process could be called a "democracy". Some people have questioned the call, but in political science terms, it's correct. Mexico no longer lives in the time of the dedazo, people do vote, and new laws, rules and institutions have sought to push the nation from one-party rule to an authentic representative democracy. That doesn't mean it's there or even that those laws are applied, as described in the article. But you couldn't call it a dictatorship. The articles emphasizes the "imperfect". I will have it here in English by later tonight.

Police at march before election (Rodrigo Jardon)

Today the students of I am 132 marched again in a large demonstration downtown. Lopez Obrador held a press conference and announced that he will challenge the election on legal grounds. Tomorrow official results come out. We will be here, so stay tuned. This is not over...

Laura Carlsen
Photos by Rodrigo Jardon

(To hear and see some of the interviews over the past hectic days, please check this short piece on Uprising Radio of KPFK, and NBC Nightly News with Mark Potter tonight.)

Mexico's Pena Nieto to push for quick reforms

Reuters: Mexican President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto pledged on Monday to focus on energy, labor and tax reforms and said he hopes to strike deals with opponents to help shepherd changes through Congress before he takes office in December.

Pena Nieto won Sunday's election with about 38 percent of the vote, about 6 percentage points ahead of his nearest rival, returning the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to power after 12 years in opposition.

But the victory margin was smaller than expected and results suggested the PRI and its Green allies would struggle to win a majority, officials at the electoral authorities told Reuters.

That would leave Pena Nieto reliant on other parties to back his plans to reinvigorate Latin America's No. 2 economy.

Speaking to reporters in Mexico City, the 45 year old said he was ready to consult with outgoing President Felipe Calderon and bring in experts to make progress on the reforms and help ease them through Congress, which reconvenes in September. Read more.

Mexico's PAN suffers heavy losses in general elections

The governing PAN party of Mexico has lost the presidential election, with Josefina Vazquez Mota falling in third place. It will be the third party in the lower house of Congress and the second party in the Senate. The party plans to make changes after these election results. 

Fox News Latino: Mexico's governing National Action Party, or PAN, suffered "a huge defeat" in the general elections and will now have to "regroup and pick itself up," party chairman Gustavo Madero said Monday.

Mexico is going through "a transition that is still at risk," Madero told MVS radio.

The PAN chairman said he did not plan to resign, but he added that the party was undergoing "self-criticism and was humbled" by the election results. Read more.

Mancera wins Mexico City mayoral election

Fox News Latino: Miguel Angel Mancera, candidate of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, Workers Party, or PT, and Citizens Movement coalition, won the Mexico City mayoral election by a wide margin, the Federal District's Partial Electoral Results Program said.

Mancera, a former district attorney, won 63.64 percent of the vote in Sunday's election.

"I am not going to let you down," Mancera said in a brief press conference, adding that he would keep implementing policies that benefit the sprawling capital's residents. Read more.

AMLO: The last word still isn’t in

El Universal: Americas Program Original Translation of Excerpt

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, presidential candidate of the left, said that “the last word still isn’t in” in this election and that he will wait until the IFE’s final count to settle on a position.

“Taking into account the preliminary result of the IFE, the position I’m taking is to wait until we have completed the proceedings and have all of the results.

“There is an established legal proceeding that consists of carrying out a district-by-district review this Wednesday. They must review all of the proceedings and know the results, and we are going to wait for this result before we take a definite position,” said López Obrador.

In a short message that he gave after the president of the Federal Elections Institute (IFE), Leonardo Valdés, and President Felipe Calderón spoke on national television, the candidate from Tabasco assured that although “the electoral process was not fair,” his movement would not act irresponsibly.

He called on his followers in the PRD, PT, and MC parties, as well as the members of Morena [a political and social movement and civil association founded by him], to gather all of the information they could in order to help him settle on his position.

“Transparency is essential; it’s essential that we take into account all of the information. There is information that we have that indicates something different than what is being announced officially,” he reiterated. See Spanish Original.

Translated by Ryan Gentzler, Americas Program

Peña Nieto's victory in Mexico is a vote for the old regime

The Guardian: Comment is Free. Luis Hernández Navarro. Mexicans have backed the old guard of the PRI. But allegations remain that Peña Nieto's Televisa links skewed the vote

Two Mexicos confronted each other at the polls on Sunday. One of them, formed by thoughtful citizens who want a different country and are determined to support Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The other, those who are afraid of change, obedient to political hierarchies and passively consume the television narrative, who voted for Enrique Peña Nieto.

Exit polls signal a return of Mexico's long-ruling party, the Revolutionary Institutional party (PRI), which ran the country for seven decades until 2000. About 49 million people voted – 62% of registered voters. Peña Nieto appears to have won 38% of the vote, against López Obrador, with 31%.

Both presidential hopefuls spent the last six years building their candidacies. López Obrador formed a civic-electoral movement; he managed to be nominated by the three registered centre-left parties; he toured every municipality in the country and headed the fight against the privatisation of the oil industry.

Read more.

Peña Nieto is winner of Mexican election, exit polls show

The big election day is over and the expected presidential winner is Pena Nieto. Electoral officials considered that the day's voting shows the country developing as a democracy, despite problems including violence in Chiapas. In general, there were fewer complaints registered compared to the general election in 2006. 

Washington Post: MEXICO CITY — Enrique Peña Nieto, a dynamic, crowd-pleasing politician and the new face of a political party once known for corruption, was elected president of Mexico on Sunday, according to exit polls by the country’s major media outlets.

Peña Nieto and his Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which lost power in 2000 after more than 70 years as the “perfect dictatorship,” seemed headed for a remarkable act of political rehabilitation, convincing voters tired of drug violence and slow economic growth that the 45-year-old former governor could make Mexico more prosperous, more secure and more fair. Read more.

Reports of voting irregularities

The early returns from today's election have included reports of voting irregularities and controversy, but the special federal investigative unit for electoral crime FEPADE will withhold information until all votes are counted. Parties have accused one another of fraudulent practices, and incidents have been reported throughout the country. Voting irregularities, however, have not been considered widespread.

The El Paso Times reports that Movimiento Ciudadano (Citizen Movement), a left leaning political party coalition, says it has "received reports of electoral volunteers destroying ballots and [of] urns that had been previously filled with votes." In Monterrey, armed men stormed a polling place in Monterrey and stole the urns of votes there, according to La Jornada (original in Spanish). Terra reports (original in Spanish) that members of the left leaning PRD have accused members of the center-right PRI of giving out favors and a PRI sympathizer reported that the PVEM (Green Party) bought votes in Cuernavaca. According to El Universal (original in Spanish), FEPADE, the governmental elections oversight agency, has opened 62 investigations, focused mainly in Mexico DF, Chiapas, Hidalgo, and Veracruz, corresponding to 605 specific complaints of vote buying and illegal campaigning.

Articles:
Mexican election: Irregularities at Juarez voting boothsreported (updated)
El Paso Times: JUAREZ - As Election Day moves forward, political party representatives are reporting irregularities at the voting booths that range from missing and destroyed ballots, previously filled urns and offering money for votes. Read more.

Urns robbed at voting station in Monterrey
La Jornada - Spanish original only.

FEPADE reports first electoral irregularities
Terra - Spanish original only.

FEPADE opens 62 investigations from the day
El Universal - Spanish original only. 

Posted by Ryan Gentzler

Weary Voters Turn to Party of Mexico’s Past, Polls Say

According to exit polls and early returns, the NY Times reports on the expected victory of Enrique Peña Nieto, the gains of the PRI party, and some of today's proceedings including some problems, complaints of fraud, but not much of the feared drug-related violence. 

NY Times: MEXICO CITY — The party that ruled Mexico for decades with an autocratic grip appears to have vaulted back into power after 12 years in opposition, as voters troubled by a bloody drug war and economic malaise gave its presidential candidate, Enrique Peña Nieto, a comfortable victory on Sunday, according to exit polls and early returns.

If the victory is confirmed by more complete official results to be announced early Monday morning, it would be a stunning reversal of fortune for the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as the PRI, which was thought to be crippled after its defeat in the 2000 presidential election ushered in an era of real multiparty democracy here. Read more.

Protest of the lack of ballots in special voting stations

Milenio: American Programs Original Translation

See Spanish Original.
Citizens of Oaxaca, Durango, and Coahuila gathered in the entrance of the electoral governing body headquarters, facing heavy security federal police forces.

Mexico City - Dozens of people protested outside the headquarters of the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) to demand for their right to vote after they were unable to vote in the special voting stations due to the lack of electoral ballots available.

Around 3 in the afternoon, citizens from the states of Oaxaca, Durango or Coahuila, positioned themselves in the main entrance of the electoral governing party facilities to demand that they be allowed to vote, on the basis that because of work they were unable to vote in the community where they are registered.

After the arrival of the protestors, the Federal Police responded with heavy security forces that remained guarding the IFE entrances.

In an interview, the electoral director Francisco Guerrero, regretted the lack of sufficient special voting stations, but recalled that this number was chosen with the consent of the political parties and complied with a guarantee for greater security in the election.

“In these last few days we were very clear in the IFE that the number of special voting stations that had been designated were few in relation to the more than 143,000 that were installed and clearly, they were designed for people that were in transit,” he explained.

Guerrero said that in all the federal elections there has been this problem, but the agreement that was made in the IFE Commission, and that was approved by the parties, established that there would be a limited number of special voting stations and since the beginning they knew they could only have 750 ballots. There are good reasons for this, and the first has to do with security,” he said.


Translation by Bonnie Ho