Fightback in Guerrero
Municipal elections in October and November were a serious setback for the ruling
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). Pablo Perez Severiano and Efrain Cruz
In the state of Guerrero, there was a popular reaction against governor Ruben Figueroa, whose rule has been characterised by an increase in violence against the indigenous population and the various social movements. Sustained protests obliged Figueroa to step down "for health reasons" just before last October's municipal elections. This unprecedented jettisoning of a PRI governor by the ruling party was an eloquent local expression of the crisis of the Mexican party-state which we have described in International Viewpoint before.' Despite the terrible economic crisis, and the militarisation of Guerrero, almost 50% of eligible voters participated in the elections, compared to only 20% when Figueroa was "elected."
Another influence on the Guerrero elections was the presence in the state of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR). However irresponsible this group is, it clearly retlects, in its own way, the deteriorating living conditions of the people of Guerrero. This hang-over from the 1970s has become a part of the very 1990s crisis of the Mexican state and its ruling party.
The EPR widened its space for political manoeuvre by declaring an unilateral ceasefire during the elections. This obliged the new governor, Angel Aguirre Rivero, to recognise the existence of the group, and offer, on behalf of the Mexican state, the opening of a dialogue with the EPR. For their own reasons, the rebels refused this offer, and have resumed their military actions.
The regime enlisted the support of the "legal" parties for measures which make it much more difficult for new political forces to participate in the elections.
When the day came, the PRI was the main looser. The new governor failed in his attempt to wipe out the memory of the Figueroa administration, by inviting the PRD, PAN and the nationalist Popular Socialist Party (PPS) to participate in a PRIdominated "pluralist" state administration.
The main winner was the PRD, which now controls 19 municipalities. Unfortunately, these elections also saw the PRD (and the smaller PT) adopting undemocratic PRI-style tactics of fraud, vote-buying, and character assassination politics.
The opposition won a majority on three other municipal councils, including Acatepec, an indigenous community which was recently incorporated as a municipality after a successful struggle led by the Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT), and Copalillo, already held by the PRT. A further six PRT supporters were elected in other municipalities. The PAN won control of one municipality.
The anti-democratic manoeuvre which has effectively stripped the PRT (the third largest force in municipal politics in Guerrero) legal registration is undoubtedly a setback for the party.
Both PRI-run municipalities represent indigenous communities, as do a majority of PRD-run councils in Guerrero. PRT leaders argue that this shows that the party has been able to respond to, and be part of the growing indigenous struggle in Mexico, without dissolving itself into the Zapatista National Liberation Front, as some other revolutionary currents have done.
Since 1994, Mexicans have expressed heightened democratic and political expectations. These latest elections suggest that the current trend is still favourable to the development of the popular movement. The PRT agenda in Guerrero will include efforts to translate this popular energy into a campaign to reverse the anti-democratic restrictions on electoral participation, and allow the people of Mexico a choice from outside the narrow realm of the established parties. * Notes The authors are members of the Political Committee of Mexico's Revolutionary Workers Party (PRT), Mexican section of the Fourth International 1. The left-wing Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) and the rightist National Action Party (PAN) together deprived the PRI of its majority of seats in the country's richest state, Mexico (the capital region) The opposition PRD won 25 seats, and the PAN 23, from a total of 122 elections.
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Nicaragua
Nicaragua: electoral fraud