Mexican elections seen as barometer of discontent
Voters sick of 70 years of fraud, corruption
July 4, 1997
Web posted at: 9:44 p.m. EDT (0144 GMT)MEXICO CITY (CNN) -- As many as 52 million Mexicans are expected to vote in key midterm elections Sunday, and many hope that this time the results will be different.
Mexico's political history over the last 70 years has been a catalog of fraud, conspiracy, corruption and violence, but the stranglehold of the ruling party -- the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) -- is being challenged this year.
Parties from the left and right wings are making a determined go at the PRI, and, in some places their chances are very good. Six governors, 32 senators and 500 members of the Chamber of Deputies will be elected.
In the most closely watched election, Cuauhtemoc Cardenas Solorzano, a leftist mayoral candidate from the Democratic Revolutionary Party, appears to be almost assured of winning Mexico City's first democratic election for that post. Indeed, the contest is widely regarded as a benchmark of Mexico's transformation.
Cardenas is named for an Aztec hero and is the son of Mexico's most revered president. He lost a presidential election in 1988, one that proved to be stained by fraud, and lost again in 1994, both times to the PRI.
President Ernesto Zedillo has made it a point to urge respect for the will of the voters during this election, and says "everyone is taking part in the construction of a new democracy."
PRI at low ebb
A Cardenas win in Mexico City would, in effect, call Zedillo's bluff. Whoever becomes mayor of Mexico City automatically becomes the second most powerful man in the country and an almost certain presidential candidate in 2000.
The PRI has had its way for so long that pessimism about the country's politics is a lifelong habit. Nevertheless, the PRI is at its lowest ebb in many years. It has been hurt by a slow recovery from the worst recession in 60 years, and by scandal.
Raul Salinas, the brother of former president Carlos Salinas, is in jail on charges that he skimmed millions of dollars from a government agency that gave food to the poor. He is also under investigation in the shooting death of a PRI leader in 1994.
Crime is also an issue in Mexico City, where the police are widely believed to be corrupt. Cardenas has promised to fire corrupt police and raise the pay of those who are honest.
One of the mechanisms for safeguarding the election process is the government's Federal Electoral Institute, or IFE.
The institute is meant to ensure that ballot figures are not tampered with, voters are not subject to intimidation and dead people don't vote.
PRI, electoral institute closely linked
Leonardo Valdez, director of electoral organization for the institute, claims his organization is nonpartisan and dedicated to free and fair elections.
"It's not a state organ in the sense that the government makes the decisions or participates in the decisions of the electoral institute," he says.
Ted Lewis, an election observer from the United States, disagrees.
"Our understanding is that only the very top level of the IFE has changed," Lewis says. "About 98 percent of the personnel of the IFE remains, so at the local level the IFE is still people who are very closely associated with the ruling party."
Gabriel Sanchez, a member of a citizens' watchdog group, is also wary of the IFE.
"We believe there is still a presence within the electoral institute linked to irregularities," Sanchez says. "This is why monitoring the elections independently is so crucial."
An unprecedented number of international observers and election monitors will be present at polling booths to reassure voters of their right to choose freely, but opinions on the street are decidedly mixed.
'... Like always, there'll be fraud'
According to one cafe goer, "Because of current circumstances, internal political pressure and public consciousness, Mexico now has the capacity of responding in broad, direct and democratic way to any possibility of fraud."
Others are not so sure.
"I think it will be the same as in the past," says one man. "There will be fraud."
"They won't be clean," says a woman, "and, like always, there'll be fraud and the black hand of government."
The test of Mexico's commitment to genuine democracy will come when the results are tallied. Only then will Mexicans know whether their desire for change has been respected, as Zedillo promises.
If the outcome is again determined by fraud and corruption, the government will find out whether the nation has, indeed, run out of patience.
Correspondent Chris Kline contributed to this report.
- Newsmaker Profile: Ernesto Zedillo - Newsmaker Profile
Special Section:
- Mexico Elections '97 in English
- Elecciones Mexicanas '97 En Español
Related stories:
- Mexico City mayoral wannabes plug themselves one more time - July 2, 1997
- At final rally, PRI doesn't have much to celebrate - June 29, 1997
- Mexico City readies for historic mayoral vote - June 17, 1997
- Two years in, Mexico still uncertain about Zedillo - December 3, 1996
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