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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | August 2006 
Leftist Candidate Wins in Chiapas State
 Manuel de la Cruz - Associated Press
| | Gubernatorial candidate of the Mexican state of Chiapas, Juan Sabines, center, of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) is flanked by unidentified supporters in Tuxtla Gutierrez. (AP/Eduardo Verdugo) |
A leftist candidate won the governor's race in Mexico's volatile southernmost state of Chiapas, edging out a hopeful backed by President Vicente Fox's party by about 6,300 votes, electoral officials said Sunday.
Juan Sabines, of the Democratic Revolution Party, won 553,270 votes, compared to 546,988 for Jose Antonio Aguilar, who was running with the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which controlled Mexico's presidency from 1929 until 2000, Chiapas' electoral council announced.
Institutional Revolutionary officials said they would challenge the results of Aug. 20 election before the Federal Electoral Tribunal, the country's highest electoral court.
"We are confident that the courts will annul this election given all the challenges and documentation of irregularities," said Roberto Dominquez.
If the Chiapas results are challenged legally, they could mirror Mexico's disputed presidential election from July 2 — but with the roles of the leftist and conservative parties reversed.
Initial presidential-election results gave National Action Party candidate Felipe Calderon an advantage of about 240,000 votes, or about 0.6 percent over leftist, former Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Lopez Obrador claims improper campaigning, illicit funding from the Fox administration and widespread electoral fraud swayed the results in Calderon's favor. Meanwhile, National Action has filed its own challenges seeking to increase its candidate's tiny advantage.
Mexico's Federal Electoral Tribunal is weighing the challenges and will rule on them Monday. The court has until Sept. 6 to declare a president-elect or annul the vote.
Chiapas made headlines the world over in January 1994 when the Zapatista rebels burst from remote jungles and occupied cities and towns throughout the state. A cease-fire ended fighting after a few days, but clashes between rebel supporters and conservative paramilitary groups continue to be a problem, as do religious disputes pitting Roman Catholics against Protestants.
Aguilar, a 56-year-old former federal senator, was supported by Fox's conservative National Action Party in a last-minute alliance to try to defeat Sabines, a 38-year-old former Tuxtla Gutierrez mayor. Aguillar has claimed the election was tainted by government meddling, vote buying and other irregularities.
Carlos Alberto Palomeque, a National Action representative to the Federal Electoral Institute, said widespread fraud helped Sabines, including balloting in the community of Rincon Chamula where voting allegedly took place in just five minutes and the Democratic Revolution candidate won by more than 7,000 votes.
"That can't be," Palomeque said. "We should clarify what happened and annul those votes." |
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