Are
Mexicans Suffering Voter Fatigue?
By Kenneth
Emmond
After months, and by some reckoning years, of non-stop
self-promotion by wannabe Mexican presidents, an important question mark hangs over the current campaign: how many people
will show up to vote on July 2?
The Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), the nonpartisan
body that administers the election, is worried enough about this that it’s keeping up its campaign of radio and TV spots
urging the 71 million eligible Mexicans to go out and vote – for somebody.
If Mexicans are weary of electioneering it’s
understandable.
And unfortunate, because political ennui, or voter
fatigue, or whatever you want to call it, is dangerous in a fledgling democracy. Voter apathy can set the stage for backsliding.
The marathon presidential campaign officially began
in January. Unofficially, it started in 2004, when President Vicente Fox seemed no longer to have the stomach to fight for
his legislative agenda. Like vultures circling a lame duck, would-be candidates of all political stripes began wrangling over
the succession.
In 2000, 70 percent of Mexicans turned out to cast
their ballots, but they were voting for regime change. This time they’re sifting through dross, looking for nuggets
of policy that might elevate one candidate above the others.
Another factor tempting Mexicans to balk at the ballot
box is the mind-numbing parade of elections they’re faced with.
Apart from presidential elections every six years,
and mid-term congressional contests, there’s an endless cycle of state and municipal elections sprinkled through what
one might think would be political downtime.
Between 2000 and 2006 voters in one or another of
Mexico’s 31 states and Federal District traipsed to the polls a total of 70 times – an average of nearly 12 elections
a year.
Some states maximize election moments by holding
separate votes for governor, mayors and municipal councils, and the state congress.
A case in point is the State of Mexico, where the
July presidential and congressional elections will mark the third time in 12 months that citizens are asked to vote. They
voted for governor last July, and had state congress and municipal elections in March.
In 2000, in addition to the presidential elections,
there were no fewer than 14 state and local elections, followed by 14 more in 2001. The electoral graph reached its low point
in 2002, when there were just seven voting experiences, but it picked up in 2003 when mid-term federal elections were accompanied
by 13 statewide votes. Another 13 took place in 2004, and eight more in 2005.
Then, in 2006, the cycle began all over again.
During the run-up to each election, citizens unwary
enough to click on their television sets must listen to congressional candidates and putative leaders hold forth with varying
degrees of public speaking competence. Some are callow youths or cynical veterans from the political class, others use the
campaign as a soapbox for a single issue, and a few seem to have good ideas.
Citizens must endure the sights and sounds of political
mud being slung not just among candidates vying for office, but also from vicious infighting within parties. That doesn’t
leave much time for statesmanlike oratory or elaborating a vision for a better Mexico.
Even when it’s all over it’s not over.
After every election there’s an outbreak of mutual accusations of foul play that allegedly took place during the campaign
or the voting. There are demands for recounts or annulments that federal or state electoral institutes must deal with, followed
by appeals to the courts.
The politicians, it seems, can’t get enough
of it. With the lone exception of the president, worn out by lost political battles and serial embarrassments occasioned by
his wife, Marta Sahagun and her sons, they seem as eager for the fray as they did three years ago.
It makes great soap opera, except that the stakes
are too high to dismiss it so lightly.
There’s another factor. One of Fox’s
resounding policy triumphs is the liberation of the press, allowing journalists free rein to criticize politicians’
antics and to train the spotlight on corruption.
But failure to reform the judicial branch brings
with it disillusionment. Media stories caused many politicians to suffer embarrassment when caught in flagrante but few have been convicted, or even tried, in the corrupt court system.
How, one might ask, do the voters put up with it?
The answer, sadly, is that they might not.
The best hope is that most voters will summon the
energy to overcome their voter fatigue and cast their ballots in July.
——————————
Kenneth Emmond, an economist, market consultant and
journalist who has lived in Mexico since 1995, is also a columnist with MexiData.info.
He can be reached via e-mail at Kemmond00@yahoo.com.
