Mexican Voters Disappointed In Presidential Choices
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MEXICO CITY (AP)--A joke is spreading around the Mexican capital as the campaigns gear up for the nation's July presidential elections: "If the three main candidates were together in a plane crash, who would survive?"
The answer: "Mexico!"
The wisecrack about conservative Felipe Calderon, leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and Roberto Madrazo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which long held nearly absolute power in Mexico, illustrates the feelings of many Mexicans toward the first presidential race since the nation restored multiparty democracy in 2000.
And as the candidates have their first televised debate Tuesday, a numbing mixture of apathy and contempt for politicians has infected many voters, raising concerns of absenteeism and its consequences.
"There are no good candidates," said Rafael Cruz, 79, a retired leather worker from Mexico City, who complains his eldest son was laid off last year and can't find a new job. "Do you think that one of these clowns is going to solve all the problems we have in Mexico?"
During seven decades of PRI rule, winning candidates were pre-selected by party leaders, elections were mostly for show and Mexicans protested, sometimes violently, against corrupt and authoritarian governments.
Now that there is a genuine three-way race for the top job, many complain the candidates are all self-interested and dishonest.
"We used to think that it was just the PRI that was corrupt. Now we see that all of our politicians are a bunch of rats," said Fernando Negrete, a 42-year-old street vendor still unsure whom to vote for.
Many Mexicans are disappointed that democracy has not solved Mexico's problems of crime, poverty and corruption.
Since President Vicente Fox's election in 2000, the economy has grown sluggishly, unable to provide good jobs for the nearly 1 million young people who enter the work force each year. Consequently, some 400,000 Mexicans have been heading north annually to work in the United States.
Drug-related bloodshed has accelerated as well, with some cities seeing shootouts and execution-style killings almost daily.
"The Mexican public is disappointed with their leaders because they hoped democracy would solve all their problems and it hasn't," said political analyst Oscar Aguilar. "Democracy was oversold to people."
The Mexican news media has used a newfound freedom to expose corruption scandals in every major party, airing videos of politicians stuffing a suitcase with cash, asking for bribes and gambling away public funds in casinos. None of these politicians has been convicted.
Concerned about voter apathy, the Federal Electoral Institute is running its largest-yet campaign to encourage voting, with radio and TV ads, rock concerts to reach young voters and personal visits to villages.
"I'm optimistic that Mexicans will respond to the call," said Hugo Alejandro Concha, director of the campaign. "Mexicans complain a lot but ultimately they understand the value of democracy."
Most pollsters bet there will be a significant drop in turnout since the 2000 election, when nearly 70% of eligible voters cast ballots. Only 45% of respondents in one recent survey said they would definitely vote in July.
"The last election was about the grand struggle for democracy and this motivated a lot of citizens to vote," said Federico Estevez, a political analyst. "This drama concluded and this gray democracy is not particularly exciting."
A low turnout would weaken the mandate of the next president, who probably will face a fragmented Congress.
Most of Fox's major reforms aimed at modernizing Mexico have been blocked by opposition lawmakers. The next administration could face even worse gridlock, which could limit economic growth and stop reform of the rotten justice system.
Pollsters believe absenteeism would benefit Madrazo and the PRI, still Mexico's largest political operation.
Meanwhile, Calderon and Lopez Obrador are campaigning frantically to energize their followers.
"Without a doubt, getting people to come out and vote is our biggest challenge," said Josefina Vazquez Mota, director of Calderon's campaign.
Calderon is trying to distance himself from corruption scandals in campaign ads, holding his "clean hands" up in the air, and is targeting university campuses to encourage young supporters to the polls on Sunday, July 2.
Former Mexico City Mayor Lopez Obrador, the front-runner according to most polls, is campaigning as an antiestablishment voice with a slogan aimed to please Mexico's vast lower classes: "For the good of all, first the poor."
Opponents portray him as a leftist demagogue in the same vein as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Some argue that Mexico need not worry too much about apathy, saying it's common in older democracies that still function well.
"Only half the people in the United States vote but it is still a vigorous democracy," said Jorge Buendia of Ipsos Bimsa polling firm.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 24, 2006 01:47 ET (05:47 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.- - 01 47 AM EDT 04-24-06 |
