Chiapas Voters Leave Room for Zapatista Rebels

In a climate of divisive communal tensions, voters in troubled Chiapas took some hesitant steps Sunday toward building a more open political system that makes room for the state’s Zapatista rebels.

But the voting for mayors and state legislators in this nation’s southernmost state also brought a stunning rebuke for the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, when residents of one of the state’s most pro-PRI towns refused to let voting take place at all. That revolt in the highland town of San Juan de Chamula, staged over a demand for the release of five alleged killers, could leave the state assembly without a quorum, creating a constitutional dilemma.

Apart from that confrontation, the election took place peacefully, in contrast to violence-plagued polls in recent years. Furthermore, the number of participating political parties increased, which analysts welcomed as a sign of an incipient glasnost in what has been one of Mexico’s most authoritarian regions.

In another signal of conciliation, rebel leader Subcommander Marcos announced that while the Zapatista National Liberation Army would not take part, neither would it disrupt the voting in 102 towns across Chiapas. In elections in 1995 and 1997, Zapatista rebels burned ballot boxes and blocked roads in some remote communities.

The Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD--regarded as a close ally or even a surrogate for the Zapatistas in some towns--hoped to improve on its current 18 mayoralties, against 84 held by the ruling PRI. The right-wing National Action Party holds five towns.

Voting results were expected late Sunday or early today. Elections were postponed in eight towns and three of the 24 legislative districts earlier in the week because of deadly flooding. The Chamula boycott and the three flooding postponements will leave the legislature one member short of a quorum, at least temporarily.

The Zapatistas staged a bloody uprising Jan. 1, 1994, demanding better treatment for the region’s indigenous Maya population, who make up nearly one-third of Chiapas’ roughly 3.5 million people. After 10 days of fighting that left more than 145 people dead, the government and the rebels agreed to a cease-fire. But negotiations broke down two years ago, and violence has flared periodically between surrogates for the two sides.

Sunday’s turnout appeared low in several communities where Zapatista support is strong. A low turnout would bolster contentions by some rebel supporters that many people preferred to abstain rather than support a discredited system.

The turnout was zero in San Juan de Chamula, a town just north of San Cristobal that has been virtually 100% pro-PRI in the past. Townspeople, staunchly conservative Roman Catholics who have expelled thousands of Protestant evangelical residents in recent years, said they would allow ballot boxes to be set up only if the government released five townsmen arrested and jailed on charges of killing an evangelical leader. The government refused, and the voting was canceled.

But elsewhere, there were examples of a nascent conciliation and political opening. The small municipality of Mitontic, whose 7,000 indigenous Maya inhabitants live in several poor hamlets clinging to steep cliffs in the heart of the pro-rebel territory, offered one of the most striking illustrations of the quiet changes taking place.

Wearing a Zapatista army T-shirt, mayoral candidate Felipe Milton Lopez said the left-wing PRD decided in April to field a candidate in Mitontic. The right-wing National Action Party also put up a candidate.

This was the first time any party had run against the ruling PRI in Mitontic. Until the Zapatista rebellion, only the PRI was allowed to run, and Protestants were driven from the town, just as from nearby Chamula. Now, however, all religious groups and political parties are respected, Lopez said.

In nearby Zinacantan, electoral chief Manuel Lopez Hernandez said that four parties were competing for the mayoralty and that “there is more participation now than before 1994.” He said the Zapatista revolt “has awakened the desire for civic participation. After 1994, more parties were born, and many people sought other options.”

Other towns in the area remain bitterly divided between official and “autonomous,” pro-Zapatista governments. In San Andres Larrainzar, scene of abortive peace negotiations in 1996, PRI supporters voted without incident Sunday, but PRD supporters ignored the election. The PRD occupied the town hall two years ago and refuses to give it up even though the PRI formally won the 1995 ballot. The PRI governs from its small office down the street.

PRI supporters said that even if they win, they won’t force the PRD from the town hall and will continue to live with parallel town governments in San Andres.

In 1997, Zapatista supporters burned 16 of 18 ballot boxes in San Andres, an action that drew widespread condemnation even from rebel sympathizers.

Voting took place Sunday on a bandstand in the center of the small town plaza, which was surrounded by vendors selling fruits and beans during the weekly market. The porch of the now-derelict building where the peace talks took place was being used to dry corn in the sun.

Alberto Diaz Hernandez, a teacher, said after voting for the PRI: “The divisions that exist keep us from reaching any real agreements. But the most important thing is that we don’t confront each other. We are from the same race; we are all poor people here. The poverty is the same on both sides.”