Clean Sweep

By all accounts the PRI won yesterday's statewide election in a clean sweep. Also by all accounts, voting in Oaxaca was at a staggering low. Papers today report between 69% to 77% voter abstentionism rates, with El Universal, a major paper out of Mexico City, pegging the lack of turnout at 77.99%, the highest voter absentee rate I've seen in posted in any of today's papers.

Cynicism about democracy in Oaxaca seems alarmingly high. I've spoken with a handful of Oaxacan adults between the ages of 24 to 40, all registered to vote, all educated, and all currently working, and the consensus was that the PRI would not lose this election no matter how many people voted against them because the whole system is grotesquely corrupt. To that end, even, many Oaxacans with whom I've spoken about last week's bombing of a Sears store in the commercial district believe the government perpetrated the act as an excuse to militarize the city days ahead of the election, thus guaranteeing the delivery of PRI victories.

There's not a whole lot unexpected about the PRI victory. Noticias, a small paper out of Oaxaca, reports today that, in an action reminiscent of last summer's major protests, members of Section 22, the local teachers union, and APPO, the leading popular opposition group, erected a small encampment* in the zocalo over the weekend (no link available) from which to protest the legitimacy of the government and to rally for improved human rights in Oaxaca. It will be interesting to see where things go from here.

*Correction posted above.