TIXTLA DE GUERRERO, Mexico – Rebellious teachers and protesters seeking to thwart Mexico’s midterm elections have burned ballots, blocked polling stations and forced one southern town to scrap the vote.
The protests in the impoverished southern states of Oaxaca and Guerrero occurred despite the deployment of federal police and troops to ensure people can cast their votes across the country on Sunday.
A radical teachers union is putting pressure on President Enrique Pena Nieto to withdraw a landmark education reform aimed at improving the country’s lackluster school system.
In the Guerrero town of Tixtla, protesters angry at Pena Nieto’s handling of the alleged killing of 43 college students in September of last year burned election material, forcing authorities to cancel the vote in the municipality of 40,000 people.
The elections are a major test for Pena Nieto, whose Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and its allies expect to maintain a congressional majority, despite the protests and political scandals.
Despite the protests, election authorities said 99.95 per cent of the polling stations were successfully installed for Mexicans to choose 500 members of the lower chamber of Congress, about 900 mayors and nine governors.
