PRI Confident as Mexico Votes; Fraud Charged

MEXICO CITY —  The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party predicted victory in Wednesday’s election for a new president and national Congress, despite a seemingly large turnout by opposition voters.

Opposition leaders charged widespread fraud in the countryside, although in the capital and surrounding areas, the hard-fought election apparently was carried out without major incident.

Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, a leftist opposition candidate, charged late Wednesday that the ruling party, known as PRI, “attempted massive fraud” to conceal its losses.

Vote Tampering Alleged

Cardenas joined rightist National Action Party leader Manuel J. Clouthier and a minor leftist candidate at the Interior Ministry to denounce reported vote tampering. In Mexico, the Interior Ministry oversees the elections and domestic security.

Fraud has been a major issue in the nine-month campaign, and the PRI had promised an honest election. After the polls closed, PRI officials said the voting had gone smoothly with only minor “technical” incidents.

PRI candidate Carlos Salinas de Gortari, 40, said in a brief interview at party headquarters Wednesday that he believed his party would prolong its 60-year reign.

‘Represents the Majority’

“The PRI will continue to be . . . the party that represents the majority of Mexicans,” the candidate said confidently.

Unofficial election results were expected today. By law, the official tally must be released on Sunday.

Throughout the campaign, PRI officials have forecast that the party would win at least 55% of the vote nationally. They say theirs is the only party with a nationwide organization and appeal.

Cardenas told reporters that early claims to victory could not be trusted and would amount to “a predawn electoral coup.” He accused the Federal Election Commission, headed by the secretary of the interior, of purposely disconnecting the computer system on which the votes were being tallied. He said he would “not discard” the option of asking for annulment of the election results.

Because of the strong challenges from Cardenas and Clouthier, Wednesday’s election drew widespread interest. Spokesmen for the three major candidates all said the turnout was exceptionally high.

Plenty of Poll Watchers

In Mexico City, poll watchers turned out in force, while housewives and workers lined up to cast their ballots.

“We are well organized here to prevent any irregularities,” said Gabriela Velasco, 20, a Cardenas supporter at poll No. 115 at a mechanic’s garage in the Santo Domingo neighborhood. Next to Velasco sat the translucent ballot boxes, a rusted car chassis on wood blocks and an altar with a statue of the Lady of Guadalupe.

Cardenas supporters claimed they would win the capital, where discontent over six years of economic decline has been especially high. Cardenas, the son of one of Mexico’s most revered presidents, Gen. Lazaro Cardenas, left the PRI last year to run on the ticket of a coalition of leftist parties.

Voters also reportedly turned out in high numbers in the southern rural state of Oaxaca and in the northern industrial area of Monterrey. In the last presidential election in 1982, abstentions ran about 30% nationally and higher in the capital. In an effort to lower that rate, the government changed the election day from Sunday to Wednesday and declared it a national holiday. It also banned alcohol sales.

Effort to Avoid Fraud Charges

In order to avoid charges of fraud, the government had distributed voter registration lists to opposition parties last December and used translucent ballot boxes that were assembled at the polling places. Opposition party officials said they had poll watchers at more than 70% of the nearly 55,000 voting sites. They said they had most polls covered in the capital, but fraud charges rolled in from the countrysides.

The most serious charges of fraud came from provincial areas that favor Cardenas’ National Democratic Front coalition. In Michoacan, Cardenas supporters claimed that the PRI stole 5,700 ballots from the town of Tacambaro and distributed them to voters. Cristobal Arias, a Cardenas representative, said the opposition had rounded up 74 of the stolen ballots and turned them into the electoral commission.

PRI delegate Graciano Bortoni, however, said it was the Cardenas campaign that stole the ballots. “How else could they have gotten the ballots if they didn’t steal them themselves?” he asked.

Authorities arrested Cardenas backer Luis Meza, charging that he stole the ballots and threatened officials.

Lack of Privacy Cited

Opposition parties in Michoacan complained that voters did not have enough privacy, while in Monterrey, opposition parties made the reverse claim: They said the ballot boxes were hidden and should be kept in view so the public could prevent stuffing.

Also in Monterrey, a National Action Party stronghold, the newspaper El Norte reported in its afternoon edition that a PRI state deputy, Ismael Flores, was seen handing out 1,000 election credentials to members of the Mexican Workers Confederation, a PRI union.

In the northern city of Torreon, Coahuila, Cardenas and National Action Party supporters said electoral officials suddenly changed 80 of 124 poll presidents two days before the election without explanation. The PRI denied there had been any last-minute changes.

In some areas, there was confusion over whether people could vote if their name did not appear on the registration list or if they did not have a credential.

In Juchitan, Oaxaca, opposition parties charged that the government did not allow them to review copies of voter registration lists until the day before the election. Daniel Lopez Nelio, a congressional candidate for the opposition Mexican Socialist Party, claimed that 40% of the people on the town’s list were registered twice or had two credentials.

Irregularities Reported

Throughout the country, there were reports of stolen ballot boxes, intimidation and polling places moved without warning. In some cases, the PRI accused the opposition parties of carrying out the fraud.

Otto Granados, a spokesman for Salinas, said the PRI had no reports of major incidents. He said 98% of the polling places were installed early and without problems.

In urban areas, poll presidents must turn in their results to district electoral officials within 12 hours of closing; the results from rural polls must be delivered within 36 hours. Reports of major fraud usually do not surface until several days after the election.

The presidential election is for a six-year term beginning Dec. 1. The vote also is for a new 500-member Chamber of Deputies and for 64 senators. PRI officials concede the party is likely to lose its two-thirds majority in the chamber of deputies. The PRI has never lost a Senate election and say they will not lose this time either.

A majority of voters interviewed around the capital said they were going to cast their ballots against the PRI, but just outside the city, the vote appeared more divided. In the working-class suburb of Notzahualcoyotl, east of Mexico City, families lined up in their Sunday best to vote.

“I’m voting for Cardenas because his father was a very good president. He talked to everyone, even the wives of the soldiers,” said a smiling Reynalda Hernandez, 70.

Nearby, Rogelio Rivas, 32, said he would vote for the PRI, “just like my father taught me. He was a campesino , given land by the PRI. I’m a campesino by birth and a construction worker by accident.”

Times staff writer Dan Williams and Santiago O’Donnell contributed to this story.