By Carola Rico
On April 10, Mexico conducted a referendum on revoking the mandate of the current President. According to preliminary data from the National Electoral Institute (INE), only around 17 million Mexicans—17.5 percent of the population—turned out to vote. Of the votes cast, 91.1% were in favor of maintaining the presidency of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), and 7.5% were against.
The governing MORENA party celebrated the results and compared them with those of the 2018 presidential elections. There was a significant mobilization of the president’s supporters on the day of the referendum. The electoral body installed 57,000 polling stations throughout the country, one-third the number in the 2021 mid-term elections, to accommodate the 92 million Mexicans over the age of 18.
April 10 coincided with the celebration of Palm Sunday. In San Miguel de Allende, many parishioners participated with fervent devotion in the different processions in the most popular churches in the city. However, this did not impede families from voting. According to preliminary INE data, 26,815 Sanmiguelenses cast their votes, with the following results: 24,033 for the President of the Republic to remain in office; 2,297 votes in favor of revoking AMLO’s mandate; and 485 invalid votes.
Itzel Peralta Perkins, executive member of the 2nd district board of San Miguel and President of the respective council, told us that Election Day was peaceful. She said that this was not a surprise, because this particular electoral district has always been a peaceful area during elections. Peralta explained that 132 ballot boxes for the 2nd district were installed throughout the municipalities of San Miguel de Allende, Comonfort, San José Iturbide, and a small part of Celaya. In attendance at the ballot boxes were the three officials from INE who must be present for the vote to be valid: the president; the secretary; and the tally clerk.
In SMA, 81 voting booths were installed in predetermined locations, as well as one next to Pollo Feliz (road to Celaya). Peralta explained that traditionally this special voting booth has the greatest influx of people, because visiting Sanmiguelenses go there to vote.
Peralta added that the council went to an assembly to organize security measures for the ballots delivered to the polling stations, since this district had six polling stations that were part of a random sample. A quick count was conducted as in normal elections: when the polls closed, the polling officials counted and sealed the packages to send them to the central location, the INE offices located in the Plaza Real del Conde.
Once the quick count was completed in all the municipalities of the country, the president of the INE at the national level, Lorenzo Córdova, shared the preliminary data around 10pm on Sunday April 10.
Regarding the application of the dry law (the prohibition of sales of alcoholic beverages one day before the referendum), it did not apply in SMA. According to Peralta, each city council decides whether or not to apply the law. At an ordinary session of the town hall on April 7, councilors approved the sale of alcohol during that weekend. With nine votes in favor and three against, only establishments selling alcohol half an hour earlier than usual on Saturday, April 9 and Sunday, April 10 were closed. This met the parameters of the INE and the Government Secretariat of Guanajuato. Councilors maintained, “We were very sensitive to the families benefiting from the economic spillover from tourism generated during Holy Week. After listening to representatives of both the restaurant and hotel guilds in this municipality, we sought to meet the request–of INE and the Government Secretariat of Guanajuato–without considerably affecting the economic activity of the tourism sector.”
