Moisés Anaya Aguilar is poised to take the oath of office as Chapala’s next presidente municipal (mayor) following a unanimous ruling by the Jalisco Electoral Tribunal (Triejal) confirming his July 1 election victory.
The Triejal decision was announced in a public session held Friday, August 31. All five magistrates concurred in rejecting protests lodged on behalf of candidates Alejandro Aguirre, Javier Degollado and Gerardo Degollado, citing insufficient proof of alleged irregularities in the election process and vote tally.
It appears that Aguirre, who lost to Anaya by 47 votes, has filed an appeal to a higher judicial body.
In preparation for taking charge of the local government on October 1, Anaya has introduced members of his transition team to the local media.
Paulo Gómez Torres will coordinate the transfer of municipal records and property. He will be assisted by Isaac Trejo Gracián, José Guadalupe Dueñas Acosta, Sergio Cuevas Elvira, Tomás Eder Morando Sánchez and Julio Cesar Desales Chávez.
Trejo was elected to serve as the new administration’s síndico (head legal counsel). Dueñas and Cuevas are Anaya’s nominees for the posts of municipal treasurer and secretary general respectively, pending ratification by the incoming cabildo (city council). The mayor-elect named Morando as his choice for government comptroller and Desales as director of the legal department.
Anaya indicated he would announce other cabinet appointments, as well as provisional town administrators and a liaison with the expatriate community, within the next two weeks.
Anaya said he is ready to hit the ground running as soon as he takes office. With prior experience as síndico and interim mayor during the 2010-2012 term and city councilor in the current administration, he already knows the ropes. He expressed confidence in the young professionals he is bringing aboard as a new generation of politicians.
Anaya’s initial focus will be on evaluating matters in the treasury and legal department to tackle the municipality’s shaky finances and pressing judicial issues. He intends to restructure the government to keep a tight check on the payroll and avoid excess spending of revenue on staff salaries. He estimates that the government can operate efficiently with around 600 employees.
The young mayor-elect, 32 years old, admitted that he has been losing sleep of late, but not because of the heavy responsibilities that are about to fall on his shoulders. The insomnia is attributed to the newest member of his family, a baby boy delivered by his wife Mariana Villanueva Ochoa on August 27. The infant, so far unnamed, is sibling to their five year-old son Mateo.