Mexico set for general elections boycotted by many natives

Polls are due to open on Sunday in presidential, parliamentary, and local elections, in which 88 million Mexicans are eligible to vote across the country.

The winner of the presidential contest will replace President Enrique Peña Nieto, who took office back in 2012 for a six-year term.

According to recent polls, leftist populist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who has vowed to take a hard stance against US President Donald Trump’s “aggressive bullying tactics,” has a big lead over the rest of the candidates. Trump has pressured Mexico on matters of trade and migration.

The 64-year-old politician, also commonly known as AMLO, has promised to “revolutionize” the country’s politics.

The three other candidates are governing party candidate Jose Antonio Meade, conservative candidate Ricardo Anaya, and independent Jaime Rodriguez.

The prospect of change, however, has not persuaded the indigenous community to take part in the elections. They accuse the politicians of having left the indigenous people behind.

Residents of small towns in the wooded countryside of southwestern Michoacan State have destroyed campaign signs and set up roadblocks to prevent government officials from delivering ballot boxes.

Among the so-called no-go zones is the impoverished town of Nahuatzen, whose entrance was blocked by dozens of men on Thursday. The men in cowboy hats laid a tree trunk across the road to stop any attempt by election authorities to deliver ballots or set up polling stations.

Such activities are part of a growing movement among indigenous communities, who are seeking self-rule.

Indigenous communities in the southern states of Chiapas and Guerrero have also vowed to boycott the elections and prevent the installation of polling stations.

Inhabitants in Michoacan State turned their back on elections seven years ago. However, back then, just one jurisdiction, the municipality of Cheran, opted out of voting.

This year, the boycott has spread to six more municipalities, affecting dozens of polling stations across the 16 towns in the state, home to at least 50,000 voters.

Electoral authorities have declared polling in the 16 towns in the state “unviable.” They may set up polling stations outside the towns, however.

The president of Cheran’s indigenous governing council, Pedro Chavez, said he was pleased that the movement has expanded.

“We can be an inspiration for free self-determination and a lesson about the rights of native peoples,” Chavez said.

Mexican journalist killed ahead of election
Meanwhile, police said on Saturday that a journalist, identified as Jose Guadalupe Chan Dzib, was shot dead in the southern state of Quintana Roo late Friday night.

Mexico, one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, has seen at least 45 journalists killed since 1992, according to the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

Dozens of political candidates have also been killed in recent months, ahead of the elections, which are said to be the bloodiest in recent memory.

Since the opening of candidate registration in September last year, at least 132 politicians, including many candidates or pre-candidates, have been assassinated, according to a study conducted by the Mexico City-based consulting firm Etellekt.

Dozens of additional assaults, kidnappings, and threats were also recorded in the study.

It said the violence has increased ahead of the elections by the country’s powerful drug cartels, who have largely replaced the government in many regions.

They fight to place candidates loyal to themselves in office, finance local elections with “dirty money,” and use violent means to protect their investments, said Edgardo Buscaglia, a senior research scholar at Columbia Law School.

He described Mexico’s political system as “a mafiocracy” rather than a democracy.