La Jornada
October 8, 2001

Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chis. 7 October 2001 The elections celebrated this Sunday in Chiapas to renew the 118 municipal presidencies and 40 local deputies were distinguished by abstentionism within the electorate of 2,189,571 voters and by the significant numbers of voting stations which were not installed in the EZLN's zone of influence.

According to the representative of the PRD Santiago Luna García, in a report before the State Electoral Institute, as of press time there were no reports about the installation of at least 35 of the 67 voting stations that should have opened in communities in the municipality of Ocosingo. Therefore he stated that "probably at least 50 per cent of the electorate of that zone could not vote."

Other municipalities where voting booths were not opened were Palenque, where 22% of the total stations were not installed; Benemérito de las Américas, where one in five voting booths was not opened; Chilón, where 12% were not opened; and in Altamirano and Motozintla 10% of the polls were not installed.

The PRI candidate for mayor in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, César García Cáceres, sustained that the level of abstentionism in the Chiapan capital exceeded 60% and he advised that this figure could be "a reflection of turnout in the rest of the state."

In the municipality of Tzimol, three men--the brothers César and Ventura López and one unidentified person--were detained by police when they gave out 50 peso bills wrapped in PRI propaganda.

Also in Venustiano Carranza two men were apprehended who presumably gave out cash and advocated in favor of the PRI candidate for local deputy in the zone.

Notwithstanding the statement of the president of the IEE that the day's elections transpired "without any incidence of violence which could tarnish the transparency, clarity and tranquility of the elections," in some regions of the coast and center of the sate, and including the capital city, the police had to intervene and guard areas surrounding voting booths where there was attempted violence between voters.

In Tapachula, where 550 Public Security Police guarded the polls from 8am on, the only incident was the arrest of a person who, after ingesting alcoholic beverages, bothered the electoral officials at a voting station located in the north of the municipal capital.

To organize the elections the IEE had a budget of a little over 208,720,000 pesos and mobilized more than 1,200 vehicles, 5 helicopters, 250 pack animals, 45 boats and 1,600 electoral officials, supported by 150 radio bases and 29 two-way radios, which were linked with approximately 859 portable radios.