Participación en las elecciones de 2006, México, Distrito Federal

Nociones y prácticas en un pueblo originario

Abstract

The principal question ro be explored in this article concerns the ways in which the elecroral participation in a pueblo originario (native village) refleers the conrradierion between the liberal conceptions on which the constitutional elections are based, and the communitarian life world of the natives in the village. The author uses elecroral statistics, a survey, and qualitative data abour local notions of elections. It turns our that participation in the constitutional elections is about the same in the native village and the enrire Federal District, but that the natives vote more than the non-natives in the village, and the native women more than any other group. Elecroral participation, however, does not imply that the elections are seen as legitimate. People vote for other reasons, e.g. vote buying, all kinds of benefits ro be had, the obligation that many feel, and the notion that your vote may be srolen if you don't use it yourself. On the other hand, strangely, the natives vote less in the elections ro traditional and local positions, than in the constiturional elections.