The
best assessment of Mexico's recent presidential election is the ruling
handed down by the Federal Election Tribunal (TEPJF) on the challenges
submitted by the Coalition for the Good of All (Coalición por el bien
de Todos). The tribunal found that there had been improper meddling by
the president of the republic; an illegal fear-mongering campaign
orchestrated against López Obrador by business and some civil
organizations; and a smear campaign waged by the national television
networks. While acknowledging that all of these irregularities
occurred, the tribunal, astonishingly, did not consider them grounds to
annul the election. The tribunal's decision is at the center of the
country's current political crisis and democratic regression.
A Setback for Alternating
This is the best way to describe the current political
situation in
Mexico. At both the federal and state level, it is very clear that the
process of transition to an alternating-party system of power, which
began with the state governorships in 1989 and continued with the
presidential election in 2000, has hit an impasse.
The country's institutions were not up to the task.
The entire
regulatory and institutional framework, forged by Mexican society and
political parties as a basic instrument of the transition to democracy,
cracked in this year's presidential election. Neither the Federal
Electoral Institute (IFE) nor the TEPJF were up to the challenge posed
by a hard-fought contest marked by the legal or paralegal intervention
of extremely powerful economic interests and the de facto
powers that rule this country.
The IFE's ineptitude, especially in tallying the votes
but also
beforehand, in its extreme pusillanimity and its powerlessness to halt
the dirty war against López Obrador, raises many questions about its
capacity to fulfill its duties. Moreover, the tribunal's ruling that
irregularities did occur but "were not sufficient to affect the outcome
of the election," leaves no doubt about the bias of those who control
that institution.
And not only in federal elections has alternation come
to a
standstill. In Tabasco's Oct. 15 elections for governor, state
deputies, and mayors, all the corrupt practices and dirty tricks that
PRI (the former dominating party) governments have always resorted to
once again reared their head, including vote buying, busing in
supporters to campaign rallies, and threatening activists and leaders
of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). Tabasco confirmed that
the country's governors have become caciques, or bosses, controlling
electoral and other processes in their states. One cacique is Oaxaca
governor Ulises Ruiz, who has obstinately remained in power despite
nearly five months of a massive popular insurrection demanding his
resignation.
With the de facto powers intact, the
capitulation of
electoral agencies, and governors running their states like fiefdoms,
we are led to the conclusion that political transition in Mexico has
come to a standstill, is bogged down, and there appears to be no way to
pull it out of the quagmire.
Bruce notes: This shows the need for a strong
structure for any people to "run" their government. The powers of
corruption will win without it.
Read all on link below
http://americas.irc-online.org/am/3746
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