This file contains two stories:

• Associated Press Release about the Guerrero Elections
• Observation Report of Mexico's Human Rights Network and Global Exchange

Tuesday February 9
By Adolfo Garza
Associated Press Writer

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico's leftist opposition pledged to use every available legal appeal to challenge the results of Sunday's elections for the governorship of the state of Guerrero, claiming the ruling party had used unfair campaign tactics.

With most of the vote counted, the Democratic Revolution Party appeared to have lost the governor's race by a thin margin to the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, which has governed Mexico - and the Pacific coast state - for 70 years.

"We will contest the election results, which we can't accept because they are a product of vote-buying," Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, national chairman of Democratic Revolution, said Tuesday at a news conference in his party's national headquarters. "We have lots of evidence." Lopez Obrador also accused the Family Development Fund - a federal government agency headed by first lady Nilda Patricia Velasco de Zedillo - of handing out food supplies to poor people in exchange for voting for the ruling party. Lopez Obrador showed reporters sacks of food, stamped with the agency's logo and that of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, known by its initials as the PRI.

Similar claims were made by Guerrero residents, who reported that PRI activists had passed out free food, home cleaning supplies and building materials in poor mountain communities before the election. Lopez Obrador said Interior Secretary Francisco Labastida, who supervises national security and federal law enforcement, was responsible for the alleged election tampering.

A spokeswoman for the Family Development Fund had no comment. Officials at the Interior Secretariat could not be reached. PRI candidate Rene Juarez, who campaigned on the slogan "More Opportunities For You," appeared headed for a victory over his closest rival, Democratic Revolution candidate Felix Salgado, by a margin of 49.9 percent to 47.6 percent with 98 percent of the vote counted. The ruling party also exceeded spending limits and tampered with ballots in several voting booths, Lopez Obrador claimed, adding that there were more votes than registered voters at some polling places. He said the election results could be reversed with the annulment of a few precincts. "We still cannot speak of free elections in Mexico," he said. Mexico is less than 18 months away from a presidential election that is likely to be one of the closest in Mexican history, and which could end the PRI's seven decades in power.

The Democratic Revolution, a party founded 10 years ago by PRI dissidents, has made big strides since 1997, when it won the mayoralty of Mexico City - a position considered equal in stature to a state government. Last year, it won the governorships of central Zacatecas and Tlaxcala states after nominating former PRI members. That strategy worked again Sunday, when Democratic Revolution won the statehouse of Baja California Sur by a margin of almost 20 percent over the PRI.

The following report on the Guerrero gubernatorial is based on observations made Mexico's National Human Rights Network ("All Rights for Everyone") and Global Exchange. The report was prepared by the Human Rights Network and translated by Global Exchange. Both organizations coordinated observation efforts prior to and during the electoral process.

The February 7th elections have shown a relative amount of progress from past elections in that there was real competition between the principal candidates and their parties. Unlike many elections in the past, there was uncertainty about what the final election results would be. However, some aspects of the elections have raised serious questions about both the voting process and the encouragingly vibrant campaigns that preceded it.

1. The political rights of Guerrero's citizens were violated during the election in many ways. The main irregularities that we observed were the following:

a) The inequitable use of economic resources;

b) The use of public funds for electoral ends;

c) The use of governmental bodies to induce, buy and coerce the vote through the use of opinion polls to find out electoral preferences, and by donating groceries, cement, steel sheeting and other construction materials;

d) Unequal access to the communications media, both locally and nationally;

e) Campaigning activities carried out after the legally established period was over (including a defamation campaign against the PRD candidate the night before election day), the removal of opposition candidates' publicity material, while the official candidate's campaign material remained in place;

f) The use of supposedly indelible ink on the thumbs of those that have voted that in fact is easily removable with soap and water;

g) On several occasions, the behavior of voting officials was not in line with the guidelines established by the law: Discretional criteria were used to resolve problems that occurred despite the fact that the majority of voting stations had some kind of supervision;

h) Voting stations were installed without any particular reason beside electoral propaganda and police installations;

i) A strong police and military presence, in some cases well armed, inappropriately carried out "patrols" during election day;

j) A significant number of voters were "wiped off" the electoral register and were unable to vote when they arrived at the special stations because voting slips had run out;

k) There was forced absenteeism for political and economic reasons: Voters were unable to vote outside their places of origin at special stations - again due to insufficient numbers of voting slips;

l) The early transportation of voters en mass by individuals identified as local leaders of the PRI, particularly to the special voting stations;

m) Voting inducement and violation of the right to secrecy by non-electoral officials positioned next to voting booths who helped to "orient" voters;

n) Rewards in kind after the vote (alcohol, soft drinks, roast chickens, breakfasts and lunches); the accompaniment of public officials and members of various police and military bodies by their supervisors; partial behavior by some members of the state electoral council, and so on;

o) The State Electoral Council refused to investigate a parallel counting center that was discovered in government offices in Chilpancingo the state capital;

p) In some cases electoral officials never arrived at the voting stations, in others they arrived over an hour late, or were replaced without taking the legal procedures into account;

q) The difference between what is legal and illegal behavior is so confusing to some PRI leaders that they unwittingly admitted to election observers that they had carried out illegal activities.

2. The illegal means used to obtain a large quantity of the votes have sullied the electoral competition to such an extent that confidence in the electoral process could be seriously damaged. This in turn could provoke the kind of political and social instability that leads to violence. It will be difficult for the federal and state authorities to distance themselves from their responsibility in this process.

3. Given the narrow voting margin between the two principal candidates, we can affirm that the irregularities that we observed during the electoral process and polling day itself could have had a determining effect on the final result.

4. None of the candidates was in a position to seek an absolute majority. Mexico is beginning to approach an electoral system in which uncertainty and competition replace guaranteed victory and overwhelming majority for a single candidate.

5. None of the principal candidates obtained a vote large enough to guarantee victory. The electoral bodies should therefore face up to the challenge of presenting credible and trustworthy results capable of withstanding the close scrutiny of the electorate.

6. It would be a serious mistake to legally endorse an illegitimate election. This would damage the embryonic democratic process in Mexico while setting a harmful precedent for the Presidential elections in the year 2000. Although legality is indispensable in all electoral processes, it is not enough in itself to guarantee legitimacy; the credibility of the electorate is also indispensable, as well as their trust in the electoral institutions.

7. Although the participation rate, 53 percent, exceeded previous elections (the two most recent had participation levels of 35% in 1996 and 50% in 1997), this tendency could be reversed if the vote is not strictly respected and all doubts about the validity of the results eradicated. A significant number of voters participated for the first time. It is in the interests of the authorities to strengthen confidence in the effectiveness of the vote. Every vote must truly count, and be counted in such a way that there will be no doubts about the legitimacy of the process. If this does not occur, this election will be a step backward and promote further abstention.

8. As far as we know, there was no bloodshed on election day. However, the elections were not peaceful. There were several tense situations where violent confrontation was narrowly avoided. Enrique Gutiérrez, a journalist, was violently attacked and received a death threat after gathering information about electoral irregularities.

9. Our observation in Guerrero on February 7th, 1999 confirms the validity and continued relevance of the Organization of American States' Interamerican Commission for Human Rights October 1998 report on human rights in Mexico. The report stated: "It is worth noting that there is no clear and convincing definition of electoral crimes or mechanisms for guaranteeing their effective sanction. Sanction mechanisms should be established for every kind of coerced or induced vote that is derived from working relationships, social memberships, or the use of public services or goods. Finally, guarantees and mechanisms still need to be installed to avoid the identification of public programs with the programs of political parties, and to prevent them from being used for electoral ends," (paragraph 463) ... "Without doubt, two of the elements that define the quality of a democratic electoral competition are equity and transparency in the use of economic resources," (paragraph 470) ... "The partiality of the mass media allows a particular political actor to present their policies, proposals and points of view about national issues or events of public interest unilaterally to the electorate, in contrast to what other candidates are able to do. A context of inequality for the contestants in the media does not allow the population a complete and objective vision from which to decide about their vote," (paragraph 485) ... "political rights can be seen to be affected in this way, as the conditions for equality of time and quality of information are violated," (paragraph 486).

Taking these observations into account, it is still possible to clean up the Guerrero elections. If internal Mexican political mechanisms are incapable of responding and if the questionable election results are upheld--in violation of the Guerrero electorate's political rights--the case can be appealed to the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights for further evaluation.

National Network of Civil Human Rights Organizations "All Rights for Everyone"

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