Indigenous Communities in Michoacán Reject the Installation of Polling Stations for the Midterm Elections

Two regions in Michoacán, Mexico block the installation of 89 polling stations during the midterm elections.

Indigenous communities of the Purépecha and Mazahua regions of Michoacán, Mexico, prevented the installation of 89 polling stations this Sunday, with the communities deciding to elect their authorities by means of their customs and traditions and not by the system of political parties.

Twenty communities in the Purépecha and Mazahua regions of Michoacán gathered in an assembly and voted to expel political parties from their region, choosing rather to govern themselves autonomously. In doing so, they prevented the National Electoral Institute (INE) from installing 89 polling stations in the Purépecha region of Michoacán for the midterm elections this Sunday.

In an interview after the ceremony to begin election day, the President of the National Electoral Institute, Lorenzo Córdova Vianello, ruled out that the rejection of the polling stations was related to insecurity, as many media outlets have reported. He clarified, “They are communities that do not want elections, that want to change to a mechanism of customs and traditions.”

The communities that rejected the institutional elections were San Francisco Pichátaro, Santa Fe de la Laguna, Nahuatzen, Arantepacua, Santa María Sevina, Comachuen, San Benito de Palermo, San Felipe de los Herreros, Cherán, Santa Cruz Tanaco, Nurio, Urapicho, San Ángel Zurumucapio, Ocumicho, La Cantera, Donanciado Ojeda, Francisco Serrato, Crescencio Morales, Zirahuén y Janitzio. Los pueblos están ubicados en los municipios de Tingambato, Quiroga, Nahuatzen, Pamatácuaro, Charapan, Cherán, Paracho, Ziracuaretiro, Tangamandapio, Zitácuaro, Salvador Escalante and Pátzcuaro.