10 vying for Tijuana mayor in June vote

There will be no lack of mayoral candidates participating in Tijuana during Baja California’s June 5 elections. But if recent trends persist, voters could be in short supply.

At a forum Tuesday organized by the Tijuana newspaper Frontera, candidates of varying political persuasions called on citizens to show up at the polls on election day — and buck the trend of low voter participation that has characterized the state’s recent elections.

“How can we complain that the government doesn’t function?” said Catalina Salas Bravo, candidate of the Movimiento Ciudadano. “We cannot give up, we cannot not assume responsibility.”

Baja California once boasted the highest voter turnouts in Mexico, but participation in recent elections has plummeted. In last year’s federal midterm elections, the state had the lowest turnouts nationwide, averaging about 30 percent in its eight electoral districts.

Ten candidates are registered for the Tijuana mayoral ballot. The field for the first time includes two independent candidates, Gaston Luken Garza and Carolina Aubanel.

Former Tijuana Mayor Hector Osuna Jaime, who resigned from Mexico’s National Action Party, or PAN, is running under the banner of Partido Baja California. Julian Leyzaola, Tijuana’s former police chief, is running as the candidate for the Partido de Encuentro Social.

Representing Mexico’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, the PRI, is Rene Mendivil, a former state party leader who most recently served in the state Legislature. Running as the PAN’s candidate is Juan Manuel Gastelum, a former legislator and leader of the party in Tijuana.

The contenders also include representatives of Mexico’s left-of-center parties, the National Regeneration Movement and the Party of the Democratic Revolution.

Leyzaola and Gastelum were the only no-shows at the forum, where participants listed public safety, infrastructure, and transportation as key issues in the election.

Despite the broad range of participants, the state’s dominant political parties will be hard to beat, said Victor Alejandro Espinoza, a political analyst at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte.

“Baja California is a bipartisan state, where the PAN and PRI carry much weight,” he said.