A contested election? Recounts? Arguing over ballots?
It sounds like Florida in 2000. Yes, indeed, this Mexican election has given me Florida flashbacks.
However, since Mexican ballots are marked by hand, it isn’t possible for the contenders to argue over “hanging chads”.
Although the TRIFE (Mexican Federal Electoral Tribunal) has not yet finalized the results, Calderon has more votes .
It was a close one, with only 243,934 votes separating PAN (National Action Party) candidate Felipe Calderon from PRD (Revolutionary Democratic Party) candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is still contesting the results.
On July 2nd, Election Day, I accompanied my Mexican wife to her polling station. (Not being a Mexican citizen, I didn’t vote, of course ).
Mexico has a good electoral system. I especially admire the registration system, which is far superior to the slipshod “motor voter” system used in most of the United States, where it’s not even necessary to prove one’s identity, much less citizenship, in order to register .
Here in Mexico, the voters bear a secure voter ID card, complete with a photograph of the voter, holographic image and fingerprint. At the polling station, there is a book with the photograph of every single voter in the precinct, which the poll workers utilize to verify the voter card. It’s a great system, and we ought to copy it.
The Mexican election of 2006 was clean, it was transparent, and carried out in accordance with Mexican law. It was also very, very close and could easily have gone either way.
It’s understandable that AMLO and his people are disappointed Who wouldn’t be in such a hard-fought campaign?
Simultaneously with the vote for president, Mexico chose new congressmen and senators, further transforming the Mexican congress. The PAN replaces the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) as the largest party in Congress, although no party has the majority. This may or may not help Presidente Calderon promote legislation. It depends on two factors. First, will Calderon exhibit the personal and political skills to negotiate with a divided Congress? And secondly, how will opposition parties respond? Will the PRI congressional delegation work more closely with the PRD or the PAN, or either, depending on the issues?
Another result of the election is a further decline in the power of the PRI , the former ruling party. Only 22.26% of the electorate voted for the PRI presidential candidate this year , down from 36.67% in 2000 and 50.19% in 1994. In Congress, the PRI delegation dropped from being the largest party to the second-largest party in the Senate and the third-largest in the Camara de Diputados (House of Representatives).
As for the micro-parties, both Nueva Alianza of candidate Roberto Campa and the Alternativa Socialdemocrata y Campesina of candidate Patricia Mercado, polled over 2% and thus retained their registry. They got what they wanted . The Alternativa beat Nueva Alianza in the presidential vote while Nueva Alianza did better in the congressional vote. Patricia Mercado holds the distinction of being the woman candidate with the most votes in Mexican history, although Cecilia Soto, PT (Labor Party candidate) in 1994, has the distinction of being the woman with the highest vote percentage (2.75% vs. 2.70 for Patricia).
The other candidate in 2006, write-in candidate Victor Gonzalez Torres (Dr. Simi) received at most a few hundred thousand votes. Long-time politician Porfirio Muñoz Ledo, now on AMLO’s team, received at last one vote.
A quick look at history shows how much Mexico has changed politically . Just thirty years ago, in 1976, Lopez Portillo was elected, with the PRI pulling all the political levers. In 1988 though, opposition challenger Cardenas was such a threat to the PRI that a “computer failure” shut down public scrutiny of the election. This was followed by the first opposition party governor (1989), the formation of the IFE (Federal Electoral Institute) in 1990 , the PRI’s loss of a congressional majority (1997) and the election of PAN candidate Vicente Fox in 2000. This year, the main two contenders were non-PRI parties and the PRI dropped to third place among all parties.
Certainly, Mexico has changed greatly in just a few decades. The challenge for the new president is to match Mexico’s political success with more economic success.
Allan Wall, a MexiData.info columnist, recently returned from a tour of duty in Iraq. He currently resides in Mexico, where he has lived since 1991. He can be reached via e-mail at allan39@prodigy.net.mx
