February 15, 1999
by Julia Preston
The New York Times

MEXICO CITY -- Elections authorities in the Mexican state of Guerrero declared Rene Juarez Cisneros, the governing party's candidate, the winner of the governor's race in a predawn ceremony Sunday, formalizing results that have been angrily contested by the opposition.

Just after 3:30 Sunday morning, state elections officials announced the results of the official count. Juarez is the candidate from the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, the party of President Ernesto Zedillo.

The count gave Juarez 49 percent of the vote, to 47 percent for the candidate from a left-of-center opposition party, in voting that took place on Feb. 7.

Felix Salgado Macedonio, the losing candidate, has accused the governing party of distributing food packages and other gifts to sway votes during the campaign and on election day. He also contends that there were suspicious irregularities in the vote count and has called for statewide protests by his followers.

The divisive election further deepened the rancor between the governing party and the opposition in Guerrero, a perpetually troubled, impoverished state that was long ruled by an autocratic dynasty of governing party stalwarts, the Figueroa family.

At a rally Thursday with at least 10,000 of his followers in Acapulco, the largest city in the state, Salgado called on Zedillo to order federal elections appeals court officials to overturn the result.

"He has the last word," Salgado said of the president. "If he doesn't act, we are going to tell him we're sorry, but his candidate, Juarez, is not going to govern in this state."

Leaders of Salgado's group, the Party of the Democratic Revolution, have shown news reporters food, roofing material, blankets and other items, some emblazoned with the PRI insignia, which were said to have been doled out to voters during the campaign.

The opposition party's refusal to accept the results, as passionately articulated by its president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, infuriated governing party leaders. Carlos Rojas, the governing party's secretary general, said Lopez Obrador had "resorted to lies to confuse public opinion."

He said, "In his intellectual confusion, Lopez Obrador believes that democracy only exists when his party wins."

Governing party leaders did not deny handing out gifts, but they noted that they are not illegal under Guerrero state laws.

The state elections council gave no explanation for the time it announced its decision. Salgado was not informed that the announcement would take place, said Genaro Sotelo, a spokesman for Salgado's campaign.

A squad of 10 armed and uniformed rebels from a small guerrilla group operating in Guerrero made fleeting appearances on the streets of several poor suburbs of Acapulco Saturday night, offering to support popular protests against the governing party.

The rebels did not say what kind of support they would provide. But in a statement, they sought to clarify that they are separate from Salgado's party, which has said it will only challenge the results through unarmed means.