From Carousel to Musical Chairs. Illegality and Violence in Local Electoral Processes

The increase in environments of unrest and political violence in the electoral process of the last decade is analyzed here. Murder and aggression toward candidates in popular vote appointments data is recovered; furthermore, an ethnographic reconstruction of the repertoire of violent activity as more and more frequent in the local scope is presented. The correlation between alternation processes and electoral competitiveness and the emergence of party tactics that use violence to uphold power in the demarcations of Mexico City is investigated, and how these arrays are employed by parties to assert or reach power in local enclaves is described. From a perspective that highlights the social function of fear, it is concluded that the repertoires of violence have a considerable impact in the practices and collective worldview of the inhabitants of the city.