Jalisco government officials insisted this week that the statewide public "consultation" on the fiscal pact between this state and the federal government, which has been held over the past four weeks, was a resounding success, even though only 6.2 percent of registered voters bothered to cast a ballot.
César Díaz, secretary of the State Council for Citizen Participation, called Jalisco’s first “consulta popular” an “historic exercise,” noting that the state legislature will now “have the responsibility of considering the opinions of citizens.”
As expected, voters overwhelmingly supported periodic revisions of the 40-year-old agreement that allows the federal government to determine how it shares its tax revenues with states and municipalities.
In total, 368,558 people voted in favor of revising the pact every six years, while only 20,258 were against the idea.
Since taking office in 2019, Governor Enrique Alfaro has repeatedly highlighted the injustices of the pact, insisting that Jalisco should get a more equitable cut of federal funds to pay for its programs and projects.
The turnout failed to reach the 33 percent required to make the vote binding, but Díaz insisted this was not the main aim of the referendum, which cost around 29 million pesos to stage.
Others called the referendum a political sideshow.
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