[NYTr] Mexicans vote in Baja California, Oaxaca

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by Rick Kissell

AP - Aug 5, 2007
(No URL suppplied)

Mexicans Vote in Baja California, Oaxaca

By LUIS PEREZ
Associated Press Writer

TIJUANA, Mexico --- Voters in Baja California chose Sunday between the 
wealthy mayor of Tijuana and an economist from Mexico's ruling party in 
an election for governor of the economically vibrant but crime-plagued 
border state.

Polls opened under the close watch of election observers following 
candidates' warnings of the potential for fraud in the state across the 
border from California and Arizona.

Most polls give a slight advantage to economist Jose Guadalupe Osuna,
of President Felipe Calderon's National Action Party.

His formidable opponent is Tijuana Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon -- a dog-track 
owner and self-proclaimed billionaire. Hank Rhon, the scion of a 
powerful political family, built a faithful following by rounding up 
petty thieves, launching programs to keep kids in school and meeting 
privately with anyone from the public who asked to see him.

Osuna has accused Hank Rhon, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, 
or PRI, of corruption and ties to drug traffickers. Hank Rhon denies
the charges, calling them politically motivated.

Baja California is home to strong export-manufacturing, agriculture and 
tourism industries but is also menaced by organized crime, much of it 
related to cross-border drug trafficking.

A second election was taking place Sunday in southern Oaxaca state, 
where protesters who took over the state capital for months last year 
urged voters to reject lawmakers aligned with PRI Gov. Ulises Ruiz.

The protesters accuse Ruiz of rigging his election in 2004 and warn of 
similar dirty tactics in the state assembly election. Ruiz denies the 
fraud allegations. He still has three years left in his term.

Hours before the polls opened, a journalist was shot three times as he 
was arriving at his home in the Oaxaca city of Salina Cruz, Ruiz's 
office said in a news release.

Alberto Fernandez was taken to a local hospital, where he was in 
critical condition, said the release, which ruled out any connection to 
the elections. Polling "is taking place peacefully," the governor's 
office said.