 |
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | October 2007 
Mexican Panel Upholds Baja California's Gubernatorial Election
 S. Lynne Walker - Copley News & Sandra Dibble - San Diego Union-Tribune
go to original
| | Jose Guadalupe Osuna Millan (C), National Action Party |
Mexico City An effort to annul the Baja California governor's electionwas thrown out early Tuesday morning by Mexico's top electoral court.
The much-awaited decision by the federal electoral tribunal clears the way for Thursday's inauguration of Jose Guadalupe Osuna Millan, a 51-year-old economist and member of the National Action Party, or PAN.
The ruling is final and ends demands by supporters of losing candidate Jorge Hank Rhon for a new election. A controversial businessman and former Tijuana mayor, Hank was backed by a coalition led by Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.
The judges voted 6-0 to uphold the Aug. 5 election. Magistrates said repeatedly that Hank's supporters did not present sufficient proof to warrant an annulment.
In my perception, this is what most people wanted, not to go through another election, said Victor Alejandro Espinoza, a political analyst at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte, a think tank outside Tijuana.
Osuna followed the deliberations from Tijuana, but several of his political allies, including the mayors-elect of Tijuana and Ensenada, gathered at the tribunal's hearing room in Mexico City.
This is an important step that gives security and certainty to the people of Baja California, said Francisco Blake Mora, director of Osuna's transition team. Osuna defeated Hank by more than 56,000 votes, a margin of 6.5 percent, becoming the fourth consecutive member of the PAN to win a gubernatorial election in Baja California. But Hank's supporters demanded an annulment, arguing massive intervention by the state government led by Gov. Eugenio Elorduy Walther, a member of the PAN.
The PRI said that under Elorduy, the state used social programs to win the support of poor voters. The PRI also alleged that a special state prosecutor for electoral crimes focused excessively on allegations against PRI candidates.
One of the electoral judges, Leonel Castillo Gonzalez, nonetheless criticized the role played by state authorities. The people of Baja California deserved better than they got in these elections, he said.
For some, Hank's candidacy raised hopes that the PRI could return to power in Baja California for the first time since 1989. The son of a powerful PRI politician, Hank has connections at the party's highest echelons.
Hank defeated the PAN in 2004 to win the Tijuana mayor's race, then stepped down before the end of his three-year term to run for governor. The PAN tried to knock Hank out of the race, citing Baja California's anti-grasshopper law, which prohibits elected officials from leaving their jobs to run for another elected position. But the federal tribunal in that case defended Hank's right to run in a 6-0 decision. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us