On Sunday, July 4, Mexicans went to the polls to vote in gubernatorial elections in 12 states, as well as numerous mayoral and state legislature elections. Today, headlines are dominated by analysis of gains for the PRI and multiple cases of electoral manipulation. Hallelujah!
In the not-too-distant past, such an outcome on election day would primarily be cause for anger, frustration and concern. But, as a great thinker once said, that was then and this is now. Realistically speaking, many of us feared the elections would be the target of attacks by the drug cartels, particularly in the wake of last week’s murder of the front-running candidate for governor in the border state of Tamaulipas. But when we crawled out of our hiding places this morning, we were greeted mostly with tales of corruption and gangstery old-school politics. Just like the bad old days, which are actually starting to look kind of good by comparison.
The strong showing by the PRI is seen in some quarters as an ominous foreshadowing of return to the single-party domination and strong-arm tactics of yesteryear. Certainly the reports of extreme electoral monkey business in Hidalgo and Veracruz suggest the PRI hasn’t forgotton how to throw a good old fashioned Mexican election. Initial returns, however, indicate that the PRI actually lost the governorships of the states of Oaxaca, Puebla and Sinaloa, which are known for many nice things but seriously people pristine electoral democracy is not one of them. Perhaps most promising, voter turnout in a good number of states was over 50%, according to published figures. Even turnout in Tamaulipas approached 40%, which isn’t bad considering we’re on the verge of changing the state motto to “Hail of gunfire.” So in light of widespread concerns about catching the “bullet flu” at the polls yesterday, on balance Mexicans should be commended for exercising their political rights. Hopefully, the incoming governors, mayors and state legislators will show a similar commitment to democracy. Hopefully.