Election day in Tijuana brings irregularities

A hurled Molotov cocktail, a hijacked box of votes, and three individuals posing as journalists while doing some last-minute stumping for their party were reported as the most egregious examples of voting irregularities on election day in Tijuana.

Two women were arrested in the stolen ballot-box incident. State police arrested Sandra de la Torre and Guadalupe Islas for absconding with the box, reports El Sol de Tijuana.

Municipal police officers arrested a trio of self-proclaimed journalists sporting badges that read "El Informante de Baja California" (“The Informant of Baja California”). Police had responded to a complaint registered by an election official tending the voting site in Calle Circuito del Árbol in the Colonia Fovissste neighborhood. The journalists could produce no official credentials listing them as such, and an inspection of their van revealed stacks of “propaganda” for a political party they were covertly promoting.

A Molotov cocktail was hurled onto the premises of the residence of Leticia Castañeda, affiliated with a movement within one of the big three political parties in Mexico. Neighbors in Colonia Mariano Matamoros saw the flaming vessel of gasoline thrown from the back of a white pick-up truck with several men onboard. Apparently, a message was being sent, but the result was minor damage to a car on the property struck by the exploding bottle.


The Secretaría de Seguridad Pública Estatal reported that incidents of complaints about the election process in the state of Baja California amounted to a received 173 election-related reports, of which 41% were from the municipality of Mexicali, 39% from Tijuana, 11% from Ensenada, 5% from Rosarito Beach, and 4% from Tecate. However, the complaints received were of a minor nature, compared to some elections in the past where blatant vote manipulation and sometimes even booze-fueled riots were the order of the day.

Baja state officials summed up the jornada electoral (election day) Sunday as essentially tranquila, calm, as the people elected a new governor, deputies, and other state and local politicos.

Source: El Sol de Tijuana