Members of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) and President Vicente Fox's National Action Party (PAN) celebrated a decision Friday by federal authorities to annul the results of gubernatorial elections in the southern state of Tabasco.
The electoral tribunal asked Tabasco's state congress to appoint an interim governor, ahead of fresh elections -- an unprecedented response to numerous irregularities detected in the state's October 15 vote.
In a 4-2 decision, the Federal Electoral Judicial Tribunal ruled that the October 15 balloting in Tabasco was riddled with irregularities that gave the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, an unfair advantage.
Authorities determined that PRI candidate, Manuel Andrade, who had been declared the victor, also had obtained privileged access to the media ahead of the vote. For example, the opposition argued that one government-run television station devoted 87 percent of its election coverage to Andrade, the hand-picked successor to outgoing Governor Roberto Madrazo.
"The decision to annul the PRI's illegitimate victory shows that Mexico has already changed irreversibly," said an ecstatic Raul Ojeda, the PRD candidate for governor, embracing his party mates as they jumped and cheered.
Celebrating alongside the PRD and PAN revelers were PRI members who oppose Madrazo and had supported Ojeda in the election, saying Andrade was nothing more than Madrazo's "puppet."
The decision came just two days before Andrade was to take office in the impoverished state. Ojeda, of the leftist PRD, said he intended to run in the new elections, according to the official news agency Notimex.
The PRI, which ruled Mexico for 71 years straight until losing the presidency on July 2, has long been accused by the opposition of rigging elections. Formerly a PRI stronghold, Tabasco increasingly has become split between the former ruling party and the PRD.
The surprise announcement caused consternation among politicians in Mexico's congress, who interrupted a debate on the budget for 2001 to digest the news.
But, several hours after the announcement, PRI President Dulce Maria Sauri said that her party accepts the tribunal's decision, though she characterized it as "arbitrary, because it was based on political interests."
President Vicente Fox, Mexico's first leader from a party other than the PRI in seven decades, said Friday that he accepted the court's decision and reiterated his promise not to intervene in any electoral process -- VILLAHERMOSA (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
