Two Municipalities in Southern Mexico Resume Elections After Violence Interruptions
Reference image. Mexican soldiers patrol the community of Tila, on June 14, 2024, in the municipality of Yajalón, in Chiapas, southern Mexico. Photo: EFE
August 24, 2024 Hour: 1:01 pm
Due to the narco-violence and after a long debate, the Chiapas Institute of Elections and Citizen Protection (IEPC) decided to reelect only two out of three municipalities in the southern state of Mexico after citizens could not vote on June 2.
RELATED:
The decision is taken before the election day scheduled for this Sunday, August 25, when elections will be held only in the municipalities of Chicomuselo and Captain Luis Ángel Vidal, while the southern municipality of Pantelhó remains without conditions to ensure a peaceful election day.
On June 2, during the biggest elections in Mexico’s history, in Chicomuselo, the Municipal Electoral Council was burned down where the ballots were kept, while in Capitán Luis Ángel Vidal, the election records did not appear and in Pantelhó, The trial was not carried out, due to threats against IEPC officials.
The Councilwoman of the IEPC of Chiapas, María Magdalena Vila Dominguez indicated that when determining the reduction or adjustment of the 28 cells in Pantelhó, “we are placed in a normative hypothesis of declaring non-election” in this southern municipality.
However, she explained that for the southern municipality of Chicomuselo, 18 of the 45 ballot boxes scheduled for voting will not be installed, resulting in a list of 15,016 potential voters, and thus, about 11,340 will remain outside this exercise.
“Among the 18 polling stations, there are 11 in the municipal head office and forces us to make an adjustment to the Program of Preliminary Election Results (PREP) and the operation of the municipal council, Not touching the municipal head force us to make a readjustment that we will work on in the next few hours to ensure the holding of elections”, Vila Dominguez said.
The violence that is being experienced in half of the territory of Chicomuselo due to disputes between criminal organizations, where dozens of small towns have even decided to abandon their homes to avoid confrontations.
Only in Captain Luis Ángel Vidal will be carried out at 100% the installation of voting tables, confirmed the councilwoman president of the IEPC of Chiapas, so that in this case, it is planned to install six boxes and from this Saturday 3,270 ballots will be transferred, that will be used during the election day.
