Tension runs high in Mexican state election

Tensions ran high on Sunday as elections in the Mexican state of Tabasco began, following a campaign that saw the arrest of Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) supporters and armed attacks on candidates' homes.

More than 1 million Tabasco residents are registered to vote in the election to choose a governor, 17 mayors, and 21 deputies from a total of 35 in the regional legislature. The state lies some 650 km southeast from the capital Mexico City.

Only 2,142 ballot boxes have been distributed, out of the previously planned 2,426. Four parties -- the PRD, the Institutional Revolution Party, the National Action Party, and the Mexico Green and Ecologist Party -- took part in the race.

Those who opposed the PRD have accused Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the Tabasco-born former presidential candidate, of busing in people from the capital, where he was mayor, to help the PRD campaign.

Obrador's spokesperson had told media that he would remain in the capital, and while he supported candidates from his party, Obrador would not go to Tabasco on the election day.

Tabasco's Electoral Council and non-governmental organization Tabasco Citizen's Participation monitored the election and would each give a verdict on the results.

Source: Xinhua