LOCAL PRD OFFICIALS CLARIFY PARTY POSITION ON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 004139 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL MX SUBJECT: LOCAL PRD OFFICIALS CLARIFY PARTY POSITION ON ELECTION ¶1. (SBU) Summary: In a meeting with poloffs on July 21, Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) deputies from the Mexico City Legislative Assembly discussed their party's position towards the contested presidential election. Led by Deputy Lorena Villavicencio Ayala, the PRD committee expressed its concern that the international community viewed the PRD as a party of rebels. For that reason, local party members have been visiting various embassies to clarify the party position and to deliver an "informative document" detailing PRD goals and justifying its demands. The deputies asserted the PRD was acting within its rights in challenging a close election. They stated that the party does not wish to foment instability and will act in accordance with the law. While the main goal of the party is to secure a complete vote recount, it would be satisfied if all of the votes from the 50,000 polling booths (casillas) it has specifically challenged are recounted. The deputies assured us the PRD would abide by the Electoral Tribunal's final decision, whatever it were, although they could not confirm if their candidate for the presidency, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO),would follow the party line if the court did not rule in his favor. End Summary. ¶2. (U) PRD Deputies from the Federal District Legislative Assembly requested a meeting with poloffs as part of a broader effort to clarify to the diplomatic community the party's position on the presidential election. The group, led by Deputy Lorena Villavicencio Ayala, wished to dispel any notion that the PRD was acting outside of the law. Rather, she maintained the party is exercising its legal right to contest what is a very close election. Citing irregularities and alleged procedural infractions by electoral authorities, the deputies outlined the party's two major strategies for contesting the election. Their first preference is for a nationwide recount. The PRD's fallback position is to insist on the recounting of votes from the 50,000 ballot boxes it has specifically impugned. (NOTE: Mexican law requires that where the results in specific ballot boxes are impugned, the party presenting the challenge must have made an official protest of the results in that ballot box no later than July ¶5. The PRD deputies asserted that in most cases their representatives had lodged the appropriate protest by the 
deadline. END NOTE.) ¶3. (U) One of the electoral "irregularities" most frequently cited by the PRD deputies was that approximately 1.5 million votes were annulled by electoral authorities - far more than the 240,000 vote margin that separates Calderon and AMLO. (NOTE: According to IFE's final count, only 905,000 votes were actually annulled. END NOTE.) The deputies alleged that in many cases votes were declared invalid simply because the "X" marked on the ballot for a particular candidate strayed outside the box next to the candidate's name. They argued that in such a tight race, the annulment of so many votes is reason to question the election results. Their written report sets forth many other bases for challenging the election. They include allegations that: outside actors, such as federal, state, and local government authorities, as well as businesses and civil organizations, improperly intervened in the campaign; IFE acted partially by not halting the "dirty war" of campaign attack ads; the preliminary (PREP) count was conducted improperly by IFE so as to give Calderon an advantage; official vote tallies were tampered with in areas where no PRD representatives were present; and IFE illegally declared Calderon the victor when only the Electoral Court has that authority. The PRD report further alleges that at specific polling booths, votes were received by unauthorized persons, party representatives were denied access or expelled without justification, the computation of votes often contained errors, and ballot boxes were installed in unapproved areas. While the report itself does not allege systematic fraud, one of the deputies present at the July 21 meeting told us he believed such fraud took place. He claimed that the PAN appeared to be using the "old-style PRI tactics" to manipulate elections, presumably referring to ballot box stuffing and the like. However, he joked that the PRI had been more adept at it than the PAN: when the PRI rigged past elections, it "won" by a large margin, whereas the PAN was only able to orchestrate a slim margin for its candidate. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: In the wake of AMLO's two large demonstrations in Mexico City and his threatened campaign of civil disobedience, this meeting appeared to be an attempt on the part of the PRD to paint the party in a more moderate MEXICO 00004139 002 OF 002 light. In fact, Villavicencio declared herself and her colleagues to be "a new generation" within the PRD, one that respects the law and institutions and would abide by the decision of the Electoral Tribunal. The deputies tellingly joked that AMLO does not have a detailed knowledge of electoral law. What remained unclear, however, was whether AMLO himself would toe the party line if the decision does not come out in his favor. End comment. Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity BASSETT