Sergio Ocampo
Correspondent
Newspaper La Jornada
Monday, February 14, 2022, p. 8
Chilpancingo, Gro., For the first time in the history of the community of Ocotequila, municipality of Copanatoyac, in La Montaña Alta de Guerrero, women were able to participate in an election to choose the municipal commissioner of that locality.
The winner of the contest was Crezcano López Escamilla, from the PRI, with 416 votes. At least 504 women and 320 men voted.
Although we have lost the election, for us it represents a victory because for the first time women voted to elect their first authority in the community.
activist Antonia Ramírez Marcelino, also an independent candidate for the police station, said in an interview.
She and a group of women from Ocotequila challenged the election that took place on January 2 before the State Electoral Tribunal (TEE). Under the argument of uses and customs, the local authorities did not allow them to exercise their vote that day because they were women.
On February 3, the TEE annulled the election and summoned the Copanatoyac authorities to hold extraordinary elections.
The PRI, the PRD and Morena also participated in this Sunday’s contest; López Escamilla obtained 416 votes; Felipe Solís Salazar, from Morena, 339; Álvaro de Dios Navarrete, of the PRD, 36, and Ramírez Marcelino had 33 votes.
“I’m happy with the 33 votes I got, but the most important thing is that women came to cast their vote and break that tradition that they imposed on us that we couldn’t participate,” highlighted the former independent candidate.
In general, the election was conducted peacefully. We observe the old practices of the carry, but we are not going to challenge and we will respect whoever won, which everything seems to indicate is the candidate that the PRI nominated.
The important is that during the election there was a lot of participation of women
highlighted the indigenous leader.
He announced that he will request that the eight positions that the new administration of the police station will have be distributed equally: four for women and the same number for men.
