Observation Report on the Gubernatorial Elections in the State of Chiapas, Mexico, August 20, 2000 by International Service for Peace (SIPAZ) Delegation

SIPAZ organised a special delegation of representatives of it's coalition to observe the local elections in Chiapas on August 20, 2000.

The SIPAZ delegation was made up of twenty persons from Germany, Italy, France, the United States, Ecuador, Argentina, and Uruguay, accredited by the CEE as election observers.

The report of the delegation can be found on the SIPAZ internet pages: http://www.sipaz.org/info/el2000e.htm

The delegation came to the following conclusions:

SIPAZ considers that the state electoral process-in spite of the incidents observed and others even more serious that our delegation did not witness-was carried out in conditions that give credibility to its organization and results.

The current electoral system offers various guaranties at different stages of the process. It would be desirable, however, to correct the deficiencies and limitations that were observed. SIPAZ suggests:

The installation of more extraordinary and special voting stations to facilitate voting for those who live in remote areas with geographic and economic difficulties that prevent them from traveling to the place of voting. The right to vote can not be given according to the possibility of traveling eight or twelve hours to the appropriate voting booth. Better training for the functionaries in the voting booths, which supposes an improvement in the general levels of education of the populace, especially in indigenous communities. A better system for distributing information on the location of the voting stations to avoid confusion and wasted trips on the part of the voters. It is recommended that this information be distributed in advance by all possible means--especially in rural areas. A better placement of each urn in relation to the corresponding voting station to avoid confusion when there is more than one voting station in the same area. Effective guaranties that each vote remains secret. This means watching both the voters and the other individuals in the voting station. It is also suggested that all booths be equipped with curtains. Updated voter lists to correct deficiencies such as the fact that individuals whose credentials indicated that they belonged to the section do not appear in the list. A prohibition on outsiders in the voting station during the voting and counting of the votes. In addition to these concrete suggestions, SIPAZ considers it necessary in the long term to consolidate a democratic culture through education aimed at promoting civic participation. What has been referred to here as a political culture of irregularity ought to transform itself into a political culture of respect, tolerance, and pluralism, through an educational process beginning in primary school. This means civic education and political practice that aim to do away with the despotism and corrupt practices that prey on the democratic processes.

It is to be desired that the free, individual, and secret vote; the freedom of expression and political association; and respect toward different political choices and the liberty of the voters to pick from them, convert themselves in something more than rights recognized and guaranteed by the electoral system, that they convert themselves in beliefs held by the citizens themselves, so that the people of Chiapas become the living guarantees of the transparency of the elections.

In closing, SIPAZ understands that the primary challenge of the democratic transition that Chiapas and Mexico are now experiencing is in overcome the social conditions of exclusion suffered by the great majority of citizens, especially by the indigenous peoples. Without socioeconomic conditions that insure a dignified standard of living for citizens of the state, it will be difficult to achieve the democracy and lasting peace to which the people of Chiapas aspire