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00849: Re: Mexico 2006 Elections

From: "Mark Antell, editor CitizenPowerMagazine.net" <citizenp(at)citizenpowermagazine.net>
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 03:49:57 -0500
Subject: Re: Mexico 2006 Elections

Hello All,

A close election in a big democracy is a scary thing.  So much riding on the vote; a few small errors potentially having major consequences.

I agree with Bruce Eggum that the DD movement should support a strong independent election oversight power.  But perhaps the DD movement should also set a goal of reducing the long-term impact of any one election .... by providing strong mechanisms to allow modification, reconsideration, and revoting on issues.

By the way, some credible independent reveiwers find the Mexican elections of 2006 to have been run far better than recent US elections.  Here are comments on the Mexican election from the EU Election Observation Mission to Mexico and from the head of the Jimmy Carter Elections Commission.

http://ec.europa.eu/comm/external_relations/human_rights/eu_election_ass_observ/docs/2006_24_11_final_report_mexico.pdf

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-pastor8jul08,0,51027.story?coll=la-news-comment-opinions

Mark Antell

--------------------------------------------

Bruce Eggum wrote:

Mexico's Short Summer of Liberal Democracy

Víctor M. Quintana S. | December 1, 2006

Translated from: El corto verano de la democracia liberal
Translated by: Alan Hynds

Printable PDF version to download

Americas Program, International Relations Center (IRC)

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

--
Bruce Eggum
Gresham Wisconsin, USA
http://www.doinggovernment.com/
Check out my Blog too
http://bruceeggum.blogster.com/

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