Tribunal Upholds Mexico Elections

Ending months of uncertainty, a federal election tribunal Wednesday unanimously upheld the Tijuana mayoral victory of businessman Jorge Hank Rhon as well as the results of the Oaxaca and Veracruz governors’ races.

The victors, from Mexico’s former ruling party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, were accused by rivals of abusing campaign laws, allegations that the electoral panel dismissed on a 7-0 vote.

The decisions by the federal magistrates -- the court of last resort in Mexican elections -- are binding. The tribunal was established by a constitutional amendment in 1996 after a series of electoral fraud incidents caused widespread disenchantment among voters.

After defeating his National Action Party, or PAN, opponent, Jorge Ramos, by less than 2% of votes cast in Tijuana’s Aug. 1 balloting, gambling tycoon Hank was accused of violating election spending limits and improperly deploying PRI partisans to help turn out the vote.

Hank owns the Caliente race track in Tijuana and has been linked by U.S. law enforcement officials to drug traffickers, an allegation he denies.

The judges said they had found no proof of illegal campaign activities by PRI activists on election day in Tijuana, nor of Hank exceeding spending limits.

Fidel Herrera, who won the Veracruz governor’s election in September by a less than 1% margin, was accused of benefiting from public funds controlled by incumbent PRI Gov. Miguel Aleman. Dismissing the case, the judges ruled that Aleman had given “moral support” to Herrera but that allegations of misuse of state funds were not supported.

The panel also confirmed Ulises Ruiz’s razor-thin victory in Oaxaca state, ruling that there was “insufficient proof” that vote tampering had occurred.

Hank and the two governors-elect will take office Dec. 1.

The panel’s decisions have generally been well received, although some analysts, such as Reynaldo Ortega of Colegio de Mexico, worry that its caseload is needlessly slowing down the electoral process. The results of last weekend’s governors’ races -- an apparent PAN victory in Tlaxcala state and a PRI victory in Sinaloa -- are almost certainly headed to the tribunal.