After eight weeks of political rallies, neighborhood marches, a proliferation of election propaganda and rampant mud-slinging on social media, the sound and fury of the 2015 campaign season finally died down in the Chapala area this week, leaving around 34,000 registered voters with three quiet days to reflect upon who is most fit to sit as the municipality’s next mayor.
On Sunday, June 7, local constituents will line up at 19 basic polling stations spread throughout the municipal seat and its satellite communities to cast ballots for one of – at last count – eight contenders up for election as presidente municipal (mayor). Each of the candidates is tied to a slate of running mates seeking seats on the cabildo (city council).
The local electorate will also choose their representatives in the State Congress and federal Chamber of Deputies.
The polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., with preliminary results to be announced later in the evening following the formal vote count. Ballots are counted on site by a team of citizens designated as poll officials. A representative of each political party is permitted to observe the process at each location and register note of any anomalies. Tally sheets and sealed packages containing the ballots are then transferred to the office of the Municipal Electoral Council for verification and a final compilation of the vote.
In contrast to the 2012 election, voters this year will be using paper ballots instead of the electronic voting machines employed throughout Electoral District 17 last time around.
Three years ago, the mayoral vote count was divided among only five candidates, with 90 percent of the total split between two front runners. This time political observers expect a fairly tight race between three leading contenders.
And in the most significant break from the past, recent reforms in the nation’s election laws will allow the winner to stand for reelection in 2018.
The new mayor and city councilors take office on October 1.