Information on the activities of the Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) in the State of Guanajuato since 1994, including the election of candidates and significant events that occurred in that state, is scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

Please note that the PRD has no significant electoral support in the State of Guanajuato, having won only 12.7 per cent of the votes compared to 33.9 per cent for the Partido Revolucionario Institutional (PRI) and 43.8 per cent for the Partido de Acción Nacional (PAN) at the 6 July 1997 gubernatorial elections (mexelect.htm 15 Sept. 1998).

This result follows a previous PAN landslide victory in the state of Guanajuato during the 1995 special elections for local governor and mayor (demon.co.uk 15 Sept. 1998). "In spite of the presence of various NGOs and independent observers monitoring the electoral process, no incidents of fraud or other electoral irregularities were confirmed."(ibid.) One The News article mentions Porfirio Muñoz Ledo as "the PRD leader in the [Federal] Chamber of Deputies from Guanajuato" (4 Apr. 1998).

No reports of adverse actions against PRD members in the State of Guanajuato could be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

Additional information on the electoral campaign and results in the State of Guanajuato and on the May 1995 state elections can be found in MEX28511.E of 16 January 1998, MEX29032.F of 26 March 1998, MEX26849.E of 23 June 1997 and their attachments.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References

Mexelect.htm. [Internet] http://w3.arizona.edu/~laac/election/mexelec.htm (Accessed 15 Sept. 1998)

[Internet] http://www.demon.co.uk/mexuk/july95/election.html> (Accessed 15 Sept. 1998)

The News [Mexico City]. 4 April 1998. Juan Ruiz Healy. "'Chayo's Birthday; PRD's Bad Week; BNCI and BANXICO." [Internet] http://www.novedades.com/nafondo.htm> (Accessed 15 Sept. 1998)

Additional Sources Consulted

Implausible Deniability: State Responsibility for Rural Violence in Mexico. 1997. Human Rights Watch / Americas, New York, NY: Human Rights Watch.

Inter-Church Committee on Human Rights in Latin America (ICCHRLA). Yearly. Annual Reports: General Concerns and Brief Country Reports.

Latinamerica Press [Lima]. 1997-1998.

Latin American Regional Reports: Mexico and NAFTA Report [London]. 1997-1998.

Material from the Indexed Media Review (IMR) or country files containing articles and reports from diverse sources (primarily dailies and periodicals) from the Weekly Media Review.

Mexico NewsPak [Austin, Tex.]. 1997-1998.

NACLA Report on the Americas. Jan.-Feb. 1997. Vol. 30. No. 4. "Contesting Mexico".

The Other Side of Mexico [Mexico City]. 1997-1998.

Electronic Sources: IRB Databases, Global News Bank, Lexis/Nexis, Internet, REFWORLD, World News Connection (WNC).