October 9, 2007 Project to Monitor Political Rights in Oaxaca Of the 570 municipalities that exist in Oaxaca, 152 municipalities govern by the system of political parties. On October 7th, 151 of these municipalities elected new representatives. In the municipality of Santiago Laollaga, voting booths were not installed because conditions were not sufficiently secure to conduct a vote. These elections took place in a context of permanent social and political violence. There are troubling signs, due to the conflict left unresolved from the previous year, among these are: the increase in organized crime in the state, allegations of rape, and child sex abuse, the existence of agrarian conflicts, the struggle for the control of the schools between teachers from Teachers’ Unions Section 22 and 59, and the actions of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), demanding the presentation of two disappeared militants. At the municipal level, the complexity of the current electoral process derives from a number of conflicts: inconsistencies due to the lack of transparency in the management and distribution of public resources, the lack of public works, abuses of authority, and increasing public distrust, among other problems. The disputes between political parties for the candidacies as well as among their different factions stem from mutual smear campaigns, excessive campaign costs starting even before campaigning began. There is virtually no enforcement from the State Electoral Institute, given that these activities are not currently regulated by law. That is to say that current electoral legislation does not call for the punctual and transparent monitoring of campaign costs or for the regulation of campaign activities. Similar to other elections, in Oaxaca, the buying and coercion of votes is common practice. Giving out handouts and cash (up to 2 thousand pesos per vote), was one of the most commonly made public complaints. Unfortunately there have been few denunciations of these crimes before the Special Prosecutor for Electoral Crimes (FEPADE) given how difficult it is to prove the allegations. Furthermore, they are treated as “minor crimes”, and impunity is practically guaranteed. For its part, the government of the state, on various occasions reiterated that the elections took places in a “climate of tranquility and social peace.” However, it recognized the existence of 29 “red zones”, municipalities characterized by high political conflict including the municipality of Oaxaca de Juarez. It has been confirmed that Governor Ulises Ruiz directly intervened in favor of the PRI candidates. Their campaigns were reinforced with all the infrastructure and resources of the government of the state, which was confirmed by recorded declaration made public days before the election on the local radio and were later broadcast on a national level. Election Day Given that the state congress election results which had an abstention rate that reached 64%, the expectations for how these elections would play out was evident. We were able to observe during the election important variations in voter participation within these municipalities, ranging from 20 to 60% abstention rates.

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