New Electoral Council Shunned in Yucatan

Hundreds of followers of Yucatan state’s ruling party prevented a federally appointed electoral council from taking office Monday, setting up a potentially explosive confrontation between a state and the federal government.

The existing electoral council, named by the state legislature and dominated by supporters of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, refused to hand over its premises in the state capital, Merida, to the new council, which was named last month by the Federal Electoral Tribunal.

The tribunal had ruled that the existing council was illegally appointed by the legislature. When the legislature refused to accept the ruling, the tribunal chose a new council in a lottery from a list of nominees put forward by civic groups.

At noon Monday, several hundred members of the PRI prevented the new councilors from entering the office. Amid pushing and shoving, some in the crowd tossed several eggs and bottles at the councilors and political figures accompanying them, television reports showed.

People held aloft Yucatan state flags and banners calling on federal officials to respect Yucatan’s “sovereignty.” Among those struck by an egg was gubernatorial nominee Patricio Patron of the National Action Party, or PAN.

The new council then staged an impromptu inauguration ceremony in a nearby park, while the old council met defiantly in the official premises.

State electoral councils organize and monitor the fairness of elections. Yucatan is scheduled to hold its state gubernatorial and legislative ballot May 27, and the conflict between the two councils could put that vote in jeopardy.

The PRI’s Yucatan leaders argue that the tribunal, the nation’s highest electoral body, improperly interfered with state responsibilities and that the ruling has no validity.

Their defiance set up a potentially tricky showdown. If the tribunal requests help, new President Vicente Fox could be compelled to send federal police to ensure that the new councilors are installed.

The PRI has won every gubernatorial election in Yucatan since the party was founded in 1929, but Fox’s center-right PAN, which defeated the PRI for the national presidency July 2, is believed to be gaining ground in the state.

Luis Felipe Bravo Mena, national president of the PAN, joined the new electoral councilors as they tried to enter the building. He told reporters, “This is a critical moment that shows clearly that at the head of Yucatan is an authoritarian, aggressive and violent force that wants to prevent the state from having clean and honest elections.”

Jesus Zambrano, a national leader of the center-left Democratic Revolution Party, which supports the new council, said, “What we are seeing here is an enormous irresponsibility by those who are provoking this situation.”

In Mexico City, Fox’s spokeswoman, Martha Sahagun, said that the Federal Electoral Tribunal exercised proper authority and that its order should be obeyed. The tribunal had not yet asked the executive branch to intervene, she said, adding that Fox hoped to avert any use of force.

Members of the new council said they will ask the state to provide them with new premises to begin their work.

The existence of rival electoral councils in Yucatan comes just days after the nearby state of Tabasco had two interim governors, also resulting from a ruling of the federal tribunal. The tribunal annulled Tabasco’s Oct. 15 gubernatorial race, narrowly won by a PRI candidate, on grounds of electoral improprieties and ordered a new election. The parties worked out a compromise and scheduled a new governor’s race for November.