Teaching Comparative

Power vacuum in Mexico

This New York Times article on June 12, makes the Federal Eelction Institute sound powerful enough to attract the attention of Mexico's power-seekers. Does that mean we will have to learn more about who runs the Institute, how they get to their positions, who supports them, and who benefits from their decisions.


Mexico's Enforcers Take On Election-Year Mudslingers "MEXICO CITY, June 10 — On the surface, Mexico's presidential election looks a lot like modern campaigns in the United States, a battle of image makers wielding television advertisements, sound bites and, at times, attack ads with less truth than venom.

"But in one crucial respect it is different: Mexico's referee, the powerful Federal Election Institute, has waded into the fray involving the three candidates, ruling that some television spots are too false to be on the air and others simply too rude...

"Courts here have recently interpreted the broad language of the electoral law to give the institute the authority to ban any speech that besmirches a candidate's reputation or could cause a public disturbance.

"A result has been the creation of an electoral referee with enormous power...

"Congress formed the institute in October 1990, passing a new electoral law intended to eliminate the fraud that had marred past elections. Lawmakers strengthened the institute's power several times in the 1990's, making it entirely independent of the executive branch in 1996. Those reforms enabled opposition parties to make strong gains in Congress that year and helped the first opposition-party president, Mr. Fox, win in 2000, ending seven decades of one-party rule.

"Until this year, the institute had been occupied mostly with registering voters, establishing clean balloting practices and preventing fraud. The no-holds-barred campaign, however, has led to court rulings ordering the institute to start policing the debate.

"Its rulings have ignited a furious debate here about how free is free speech, and when does the government have a right to curb certain electoral practices, like mudslinging.

"The debate also underscores that Mexico's transition from a one-party state six years ago to a modern, multiparty democracy has a peculiarly Mexican flavor, influenced by its history, experts here say.

"Mexicans are used to a high level of decorum from their elected officials, a vestige of a paternalistic state that ruled here for most of the 20th century. By and large, they also chafe at any hint that the president is grooming a successor, since that is precisely what happened every six years under the one-party system.

"'We have a work in progress in terms of what our democracy is, and the Federal Election Institute is one of the constructors,' said Rosanna Fuentes-Berain, the editor of the Spanish edition of Foreign Affairs.

"'We are not used to very strong and open public debate — this is a country that for 70-odd years was basically debating things internally without witnesses,' Ms. Fuentes-Berain said. 'For some Mexicans it's better to keep your manners and not be too blatant about what you think of a person.'

"But for many, the institute has gone too far. 'My position has been completely against the institute transforming itself into censors,' said Sergio Sarmiento, a columnist and radio commentator..."

posted by Ken Wedding @ 9:59 AM