Bucking a state and nationwide trend, National Action Party (PAN) candidate Joaquin Huerta Barrios won the sympathies of the Chapala electorate to triumph in the municipality’s July 1 mayoral race.
His victory means that the PAN will retain power at Chapala city hall for the next three years.
Huerta is recognized as the virtual mayor-elect after garnering a solid 1,179-vote and 5.2-percentage lead over his top rival, former mayor (2007-2009) Gerardo Degollado Gonzalez, contender on the Institutional Revolutionary Party-Green Party (PRI-PVEM) ticket.
Utilization of electronic voting devices allowed for a rapid preliminary tabulation of ballots. The final tally will be confirmed by Jalisco’s Electoral Institute (IEPC) on July 8.
Huerta was chalked up as the clear leader barely 90 minutes after the polls closed. This prompted hundreds of supporters to swarm outside PAN campaign headquarters on Avenida Madero, waving blue-and-white banners and cheering their candidate’s win. Many others jumped aboard cars and trucks, looping around the main thoroughfare with horns blaring.
The crowd swelled to several thousand by the time Huerta appeared just after 9 p.m. to lead a victory march to the waterfront Malecon. Finally breaking free from the jubilant throng 40 minutes later, he stepped up to the emblematic Fisherman’s Fountain to humbly claim his electoral crown and thank campaign followers.
“I don’t have words to express my gratitude to all of you,” Huerta declared, voice cracking with emotion. He also reached out to his political foes, urging them to unite with the incoming administration to help bring peace, progress and prosperity to the community.
With live music keeping the celebratory mood pumped up, the party continued until midnight, long after a weary Huerta and his family retired from the scene.
By the time the festivities wound down, 100 percent of the preliminary vote count was already registered on the IPEC website, with a poll-by-poll breakdown. The early numbers were verified on Wednesday after the local election board completed calculations of official election returns drawn up at all 53 polling stations. Board president Jorge Melendrez Diaz reported no anomalies. The election documentation has been turned over to IEPC for validation.
Vote count
Huerta captured 10,554 votes, dominating the polls in Chapala, Ajijic, San Antonio and San Nicolas. Degollado’s total was 9, 375, carrying the lead in Atotonilquillo and Santa Cruz de la Soledad.
Citizen Movement-Workers Party (MC-PT) coalition candidate Francisco Diaz Ochoa – a virtually unknown political player on the local scene prior to the campaign season – racked up 1,532 votes (6.81 percent) to place third and presumably land a seat on the new city council.
Jose Antonio Flores Plascencia, competing under the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) banner, trailed far behind with 760 votes (3.38 percent), while New Alliance Party (PANAL) contender Luis Padilla Martinez ran with just 237 votes (1.05 percent) in his column.
The full count of ballots came to 22,473, including three null votes and 12 for non-registered candidates.
Based on the standard formula to conform the cabildo (city council), PAN will hold a majority with seven seats, while three spots go to PRI and one to MC-PT.
Conventional wisdom
Local political observers attributed Huerta’s edge to his standing as a respected native son, an untarnished reputation gained in his previous government posts and the unity that prevailed throughout the campaign season among internal PAN factions led by former mayors Alejandro Aguirre and Arturo Gutierrez.
Degollado, on the other hand, is said to have suffered significant fallout from heavy-handed manipulation of the local PRI structure that generated unresolved internecine bickering and alienation of a considerable segment of the party faithful. Many ordinary citizens appear to have taken a dim view of his stab at a second term in the mayor’s chair.
Open mud-slinging between PRI and PAN, coupled with accusations of dirty campaign tactics employed by both sides, presumably helped push more than 10 percent of the electorate towards the minor party candidates.
Chapala voters went against the electoral tide that swept across the region and most of the rest of the state in municipal government contests. PRI-PVEM mayoral candidates recorded wins in Ixtlahuacan de los Membrillos, Jocotepec, La Barca, Ocotlan, Poncitlan, Tizapan el Alto and Tuxcueca. Jamay is the only other lakeshore municipality that will be governed by PAN during the 2012-2014 term.
However, many constituents who voted PAN on the local level opted to split their ballots rather than adhere to strict party lines in the state and federal elections. PRI-PVEM gubernatorial candidate Aristoteles Sandoval carried 40.13 per cent of the vote in Chapala, followed by Fernando Guzman (PAN) with 32.06 percent and Citizen Movement-Workers Party (MC-PT) contender Enrique Alfaro with 21.18 percent.
New government officials will take charge in all of Jalisco’s 125 municipalities as of October 1.