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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | April 2007 
Mexico Split on How Democracy Works
 Angus Reid
Mexican adults are divided in their assessment of democracy, according to a poll by Reforma. 45 per cent of respondents are satisfied with the way democracy works in the Latin American nation, while 44 per cent are dissatisfied.
Allegations of fraud surfaced during and after the 1988 Mexican presidential election, when the government blamed the breakdown of a computer system for unexpected delays in the distribution of results. In the end, Carlos Salinas de Gortari—the nominee for the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) - was declared the winner with 50.7 per cent of the vote, defeating Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas of the National Democratic Front (FDN).
The Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) was established in 1990 as an autonomous entity responsible for organizing federal elections in Mexico. Previously, the interior secretariat had been in charge of all election-related activities. 49 per cent of respondents think democracy is preferable to any other kind of government.
Mexican voters chose their new president in July 2006. Official results placed Felipe Calderón of the National Action Party (PAN) as the winner with 36.68 per cent of all cast ballots, followed by Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) with 36.11 per cent. Calderón - a former energy secretary - took over as Mexico’s head of state in December.
López Obrador filed an unsuccessful legal challenge to the election result, alleging widespread fraud. European Union (EU) election monitors did not report any irregularities in the vote count. The PRD candidate publicly refers to himself as "Mexico’s legitimate president."
Last month, IFE president Luis Carlos Ugalde discussed the current state of affairs, saying, "I think that when a system is put to a test - an extreme test, as it happened in Mexico - you have an opportunity to get the experience, to share the experience and then to promote the changes to the system into the future."
Polling Data
Overall, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way democracy works in Mexico?
Satisfied - Feb. 2007 45% | Aug. 2006 48%
Dissatisfied - Feb. 2007 44% | Aug. 2006 42%
No opinion - Feb. 2007 11% | Aug. 2006 10%
Which of the following statements do you agree with most?
Democracy is preferable to any other kind of government - 49%
In certain circumstances, an authoritarian government can be preferable to a democratic one - 5%
To people like me, it makes no difference whether the regime is democratic or undemocratic - 32%
Not sure - 14%
Source: Reforma
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews with 1,515 Mexican adults, conducted from Feb. 16 to Feb. 18, 2007. Margin of error is 2.5 per cent. |
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