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 News from Around the Americas | July 2006 
Expatriates Keep Close Watch on Mexican Vote
 Claudia Meléndez Salinas - Monterey County Herald
| | Poll worker demonstrates to observers that the ballot box is empty and transparent. In the old days, the boxes would arrive "already pregnant" with ballots marked for the PRI ruling party. (Chuck Collins) |
Salinas, CA - Artist Dolores Orozco is awaiting the results of the Mexican election as though she were holding an unopened box.
"It's like having a gift and you can't open it," said Orozco, who traveled to Tijuana over the weekend to vote in Mexico's presidential election. "But it's a good thing they don't say who the winner is when they're not sure."
A day after Mexican election officials declared they would not announce official results of the close contest until Wednesday, Mexican expatriates in Salinas were either optimistic that the delay is a sign of the country's maturity or worried that this could become yet another stolen election.
Conservative candidate Felipe Calderón of the National Action Party claimed victory on Monday; opponent Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he will challenge the results.
Orozco, a native of Guadalajara, has traveled back and forth to the United States since she was an infant, so she has deep roots in both countries. Although she's anxiously waiting for the results, she feels confident this has been a transparent election.
"Even a vote will count," she said. "That's good. For many years, people didn't trust the election process, they knew who was going to win."
The populist PRI had a grip in Mexico's politics until 2000, when Vicente Fox of the National Action Party was able to wrest the presidency away. Still, not everyone's convinced things have changed, and Moisés Luévano of Salinas is proof of that.
Speaking outside his business in East Alisal, Luévano said the Fox administration was unlikely to give up power, hence his suspicion the election may be tilted toward Calderón, who belongs to the same party.
"Nobody's ever going to govern for the people; power is power," Luévano said. Although it was the first election where Mexicans living abroad we able to vote absentee, Luévano didn't even try to register. "What for?" he said.
José Ángel Santiago, owner of Fish & Chips in East Alisal, said he attempted to register to vote but his application was incorrectly filled out so it was sent back to him. He was disappointed he was unable to participate in this election, but he said he's optimistic the path had been open for next time.
Of the estimated 3 million Mexican nationals registered to vote in their home country, only about 40,000 asked to receive ballots for this year's election. The absentee turnout heavily favored the conservative candidate, a sign of the deep animosity against the PRI, the party most expatriates blame for the country's problems.
Salinas attorney Blanca Zarazúa, who also serves as Mexico's honorary consul, was in Mexico over the weekend and saw the enthusiasm of people campaigning and lining up to vote on Sunday. For her, not knowing who's the winner yet is a show of progress.
"The most important thing about this election is that we didn't know, and we still didn't know who won," she said. "Historically, everyone would know who'd win, and that's a positive sign that democracy has arrived in Mexico."
>Claudia Meléndez Salinas - cmelendez@montereyherald.com. |
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