Huasteca
Guided by members of the local Alianza Cívica, the Huasteca group visited two municipalities in the region: Huejutla (Hidalgo) and Tamazunchale (SLP). In both places we visited the district offices of IFE along with several rural and urban communities. We also visited government offices and civic organizations in each location.
1. IFE and the Administration of Elections
There are significant differences in outlook between federal and local IFE offices and in the way that different local offices of IFE carry out their work. In Huejutla, IFE officials had a history of PRI activism and had been at IFE since 1991. They expressed little concern about electoral conditions or potential problems. When asked, IFE officials said they would pass along any complaints they received to the proper authorities, but they were not actively soliciting such information from civic organizations or individuals. In Tamazunchale the outlook was quite different. The unit’s director was confident that institutional controls are much more effective now than formerly, but she also expressed concern about potential irregularities at the level of small rural communities. Specifically, she noted that economic marginalization and a lack of education make it difficult to recruit people who meet the criteria to serve as poll workers. This is a potentially significant obstacle to free and fair elections, but the director’s recognition of the problem at least allows her to address it.
Our delegation also noticed that published IFE materials are apparently not available in languages other than Spanish even though several communities that we visited had significant numbers of indigenous monolingual (non-Spanish speaking) residents. This would appear to be a serious obstacle to informed voting for those individuals. Finding poll workers who speak indigenous languages will help to ensure that all voters are properly instructed in the balloting procedures. As the IFE director in Tamazunchale noted, however, finding speakers of indigenous languages who also qualify as potential poll workers is difficult in some localities.
Null votes prompted by ignorance of voting procedures or fear of political consequences may also be a problem, especially in isolated communities. For example, in a small community near Tamazunchale, the head of the polling place (presidente de casilla) said that he understood the voting procedures and he assured us that there would be no electoral crimes or irregularities. When pressed on the issue, however, he commented: "mejor que se anule el voto que haya problemas." (It’s better to anull the vote than to cause problems.) Ironically, he was legally ineligible to serve as presidente de casilla because he was currently holding the post of Municipal Treasurer.
2. Political Coercion and Vote Buying
We encountered a widespread belief that vote buying and political coercion is commonplace. This can take place through direct payment or through the manipulation of government programs such as PROGRESA. Many people suspected that PROGRESA and PROCAMPO would disappear if the PRI did not win in July while others reported that they had been threatened with losing their benefits if they supported an opposition party. Such threats are especially effective in communities that, because they are isolated by language or remoteness, have limited access to information and among people whose extreme poverty makes them highly dependent on the cash payments passed out by the government. That appeared to be the case of the indigenous women we saw lining up for cash payments in one town plaza. Several told a member of our group that they feared the loss of these payments if the PRI did not win the elections. Seeing more foreigners approach, however, they began speaking Nahuatl among themselves and refused further comment.
In a town near Tamazunchale, a staunchly pro-PRI woman who served as the local promotora (a volunteer coordinator for the PROGRESA program) admitted that women who did not participate in "voluntary" street cleaning would lose their PROGRESA money after the third absence (this had yet to occur). She insisted that the requirement was something the local women had agreed upon. A group of women from the community who support the PAN refused to participate in the street cleaning and had as a consequence been threatened with the loss of their benefits. One of the pro-PAN women commented that the intimidation had been heavy. She personally was worried that they would remove her medical benefits because she did not participate. This was of particular concern to her since she had a very sick child. She felt that the intimidation was a direct result of her political affiliation. Women in the community also reported that the promotora had told them to vote for the PRI, an action that blurred the distinction between her roles as an agent of the government and as a party activist.
We also received documentation indicating that money from a government program which sells maize at subsidized prices to poor people had been filtered through the local PRI organization. The documentation includes a receipt signed by the local PRI president. (See Appendix D.) We were also told of 25 complaints related to electoral issues by a human rights organisation but have thus far been unable to get copies of them. In general, we found it hard to obtain direct evidence of vote buying and political pressure. Some of the people we met were too intimidated to speak about it–such as the indigenous women we saw in the town plaza. Others voiced the view that the practice was widespread. Hence it was difficult for us to assess how widespread the problems of vote buying and political pressure are in the area, but they are definitely a possibility and should be investigated further in any future electoral observation.
3. Campaign Finance
It was also difficult for us to find hard evidence on the topic of campaign finance since little is done at the local level to monitor campaign finances. The case cited above in which government-purchased maize was sold to poor people by local representatives of the PRI raises serious concerns about the diversion of public resources for partisan ends. As with vote buying and political pressure, however, it was difficult for us to discern how widespread such abuses are.
4. Media Access
On this topic also it was difficult to find much information. We asked a local reporter in Huejutla if his paper monitored party advertising and news coverage. He said they did, but would not disclose the results of that monitoring. IFE officials at the local level seem to have little to do with monitoring media coverage. In Huejutla, IFE officials noted that of the two local radio stations, one was controlled by the government and therefore likely to favor the PRI. The other was privately owned, but because the PRI has the most resources, it could buy more air time and thus that station spent more time promoting the PRI as well. Local IFE officials considered the monitoring of the media to be under the purview of the IFE office in Mexico City.
5. Militarization
There was a noticeable military presence in the Huasteca, but it was difficult to judge its general impact. A PRD official in one municipality we visited expressed little concern about the military’s presence in nearby communities, accepting the official explanation that they were there to interdict drugs and smuggled weapons. Officials from the local Gobernación office in Huejutla said that military forces were welcomed by local communities because the soliders were from the same communities, however local residents disputed this claim. One group of citizens near Huejutla issued a demand to the local Gobernación office to reduce the military presence in their community. Another group expressed concern to our group over the increasing frequency of the military presence in their town. They were especially concerned about the fact that in one recent encounter, soldiers were not wearing any visible personal, rank, or unit identification. This is a serious matter because the absence of identification greatly increases the possibility that military personnel could act with impunity.
6. Local Issues
Land tenure issues have taken on political overtones and in some cases have become violent party disputes. In one case in Hidalgo, PRI-affiliated members of a farm cooperative (ejido) forcibly pushed out a group of PRD-affiliated members of the ejido. Fifteen members of the PRD faction, including a 15-year old boy, were arrested. None of the PRI (CNC)-affiliated ejido members was arrested. The 128 evicted ejido members were being housed in a temporary relocation camp in a neighboring municipality, governed by the PRD. Because they have been forced off their land, they will not be able to vote at their normal polling place. They hope that a special one will be made available to them at the site of their camp. We went to the site of the ejido to interview members who were on the other side of the dispute but none of the ejido officials were available to talk to us.
Conclusion
We encountered evidence of irregularities regarding election administration, vote buying and political pressure, finances, media, militarization and local issues in Mexico’s preelectoral period. The most serious problems seem to be related to vote buying and the continuing legacy of clientelistic and paternalistic political practices.
Despite these concerns, we also observed several positive aspects of Mexico’s preelectoral conditions. Most of all, the levels of consciousness and understanding of the political process of many people were notable. While we do not suggest that this is the case for all actors in the Huasteca region, it is clear that significant work is being done by IFE, the parties, and civic organizations to encourage political openness. The majority of people we spoke with knew from IFE publicity that their vote would be "free and secret," though it was unclear if all of them knew the true meaning of this phrase. Virtually everyone we spoke to said they intended to vote on election day. The level of knowledge regarding the different parties was reasonably high. A significant number of people had listened to the most recent presidential debate and had discussed it in their communities. Notwithstanding serious irregularities, there are reasons to be optimistic about the electoral process in the Huasteca region..
