Mexico Elections - 2006
Mexico, with a population of 107 million, is a federal republic composed of 31 states and a federal district, with an elected president and bicameral legislature. In July Felipe Calderon of the National Action Party (PAN) was elected president to a six-year term in generally free and fair multiparty elections. While civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces, there were frequent instances in which elements of the security forces acted independently of government authority. Police arbitrarily arrested and detained persons suspected of crimes, in many cases without a warrant. In the legal system a suspect is deemed guilty until proven innocent.
Corruption was a problem at all levels of government as public officials continued to be involved frequently in bureaucratic abuses and a variety of criminal acts with impunity. In recent years all major political parties have been fined for illegal campaign funding. Paying bribes to administrative officials and security forces continued to be routine.
Although the government generally respected and promoted human rights at the national level by investigating, prosecuting, and sentencing public officials and members of the security forces, a deeply entrenched culture of impunity and corruption persisted, particularly at the state and local level. The following human rights problems were reported: unlawful killings by security forces; kidnappings, including by police; torture; poor and overcrowded prison conditions; arbitrary arrests and detention; corruption, inefficiency, and lack of transparency in the judicial system; statements coerced through torture permitted as evidence in trials; criminal intimidation of journalists, leading to self-censorship; and corruption at all levels of government.
While the federal government usually tolerated criticism, state and local level officials occasionally responded to unfavorable news articles by threatening their authors with libel and defamation lawsuits. There were approximately 300 privately owned newspapers, and most radio stations were privately owned. Despite federal government support for freedom of the press, many journalists worked in an extremely dangerous environment. On February 15, in response to the increasing violence, the federal government established the Office of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes Committed Against Journalists. Although his jurisdiction does not cover activities of drug cartels or organized crime, the special prosecutor identified drug trafficking, abuse of political power, and economic interests as the greatest threats to journalists, noting that since 1982, 53 journalists were murdered or had disappeared because of their profession.
A prolonged conflict in the state of Oaxaca began in May 2006 when members of the 70,000-member state teachers union initiated an annual strike to demand higher wages. The teachers' position hardened after Oaxaca's state governor, Ulises Ruiz, ordered state police to break up a sit-in in the city's historic center. Oaxaca became paralyzed by organized protests led by teachers and an umbrella organization, the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO). Unidentified gunmen allegedly linked to the governor and members of the APPO periodically clashed. According to CNDH, the resulting conflict directly or indirectly caused 20 civilian deaths, including the August 10 killing of demonstrator Jose Jimenez Colmenares, the August 20 killing of protester Lorenzo San Pablo Cervantes, and three killings on October 27, including the shooting of a freelance journalist.
By the end of 2006, state and federal investigations had not identified the perpetrators of any of these killings, although human rights groups asserted that persons linked to state security forces were responsible. Following the October 27 killings, the government deployed to Oaxaca City approximately 3,000 Federal Preventive Police (PFP), who remained there until December 17. During this period there were allegations of human rights violations connected to federal police as well as to unidentified gunmen believed linked to the governor. Between June 2 and year's end, CNDH received more than 1,200 complaints of human rights violations in Oaxaca, including torture, homicide, and disappearances.
The presidential and congressional elections of 02 July 2008 tested the country's electoral institutions. The main issues in the 2006 elections were the high crime rate, poverty and undocumented Mexican workers in the United States. The PAN endorsed Mr. Felipe Calderon as its presidential candidate and presented tough policies on crime, including life sentences for kidnappers. The PRD, led by the former Mayor of Mexico City, Mr. Manuel Lopez Obrador, formed an alliance, called the "Alliance for the Good of All", with the Labour Party and the Convergence Party (CONV). The alliance fought the elections under the slogan "For the Good of All, the poor first", pledging to improve healthcare and education. The Alliance for Mexico coalition was composed of the PRI and the Green Party of Mexico (PVEM). The PRI, led by former senator Mr. Roberto Madrazo, pledged to create nine million jobs inside Mexico to prevent Mexican workers migrating to the United States. Other main parties in the 2006 elections were the New Alliance Party (NA), formed by former PRI member Mr. Roberto Campa, and the Social Democratic and Peasant Alternative Party (ALT), led by the prominent civil and women rights activist, Ms. Patricia Mercado. Approximately 42 million of the 71 million registered to voters turned out at the polls. The European Union (EU) announced that its observers did not witness any irregularities.
Felipe Calderon of the PAN was elected in an extremely tight race, with a margin of less than one percent separating his vote total from that of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador ("AMLO") of the left-of-center Democratic Revolution Party (PRD). They were determined to be generally free and fair by the majority of neutral observers, including European Union representatives and local and international civil society organizations.
However, PRD presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador vigorously disputed PAN candidate Felipe Calderon's razor-thin victory margin in the electoral courts. AMLO contested the results of the election, alleging that it was marred by widespread fraud. The PRD also staged nonviolent protests and civil disobedience activities, including the blockage of streets in the capital as well as smaller demonstrations in several regional cities, demanding a full recount of ballots nationwide. The Federal Electoral Tribunal ruled to recount approximately 9 percent of voting stations, principally those in which the PRD presented some evidence of inconsistencies. This partial recount had minimal impact on Calderon's 0.56 percent margin of victory.
On 05 September 2006, the Federal Electoral Tribunal declared Felipe Calderon president-elect, ending rival candidate Lopez Obrador's two-month-long legal challenge of the election results. In its final decision, the tribunal ruled that while it found no evidence of fraud, it had found a number of irregularities, including a large number of apparently random counting and arithmetic errors. It also rebuked President Fox for his thinly veiled endorsements of Calderon and criticism of Lopez Obrador, as well as pro-Calderon television ads sponsored by a business group. The tribunal determined, however, that these irregularities provided insufficient grounds to invalidate the election. Lopez Obrador refused to accept the tribunal's decision, declared himself the "legitimate president," established a "parallel government," and vowed to continue acts of civil disobedience.
The results of concurrent congressional and state-level elections were far less controversial than the presidential election, although the results in several individual races were challenged, as routinely occurs. The PAN won three gubernatorial races and approximately 40 percent of congressional seats. The PRD retained the significant office of mayor of Mexico City and won the second largest number of seats in the lower house of Congress. Although its presidential candidate ran more than 10 percentage points behind the two leading candidates, the PRI came in second place in the upper house of Congress and finished in a close third place in the lower house. In addition, two recently established political parties secured enough votes to guarantee their status as national parties entitling them to government funding.
During the year political parties, opposition groups, and independent associations functioned freely without government interference or restriction. National political parties needed Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) recognition based on having won at least 2 percent of the vote in the last national election. The IFE recognized eight national political parties. On October 3, the Supreme Court struck down state electoral laws barring independent candidates from running for public office.
There were 22 women in the 128-seat Senate and 116 women in the 500-seat lower house. Two female justices sat on the 11-member Supreme Court. President Calderon appointed four women to his 21-member cabinet. One woman held a position in former president Fox's cabinet. Many state electoral codes provide that no more than 70 to 80 percent of candidates can be of the same gender. All political parties continued their efforts to increase the number of women running for elected office. Some utilized quotas requiring that a certain percentage of candidates on a party list be female.
There were no statistics available regarding minority participation in government. The law provides for the right of indigenous people to elect representatives to local office according to "usages and customs" law, rather than federal and state electoral law. Voter intimidation and conflict was not uncommon during elections in some indigenous communities. Traditional customs varied by village. In some villages, women did not have the right to vote or hold office; in others they could vote but not hold office,
Judicial reforms stalled at the federal level during the Fox years, but President Calderon succeeded in passing legislation to reform the federal judicial system in 2008. The reform legislation set a timetable of 8 years for full implementation. In addition to judicial reform, President Calderon also succeeded in negotiating with Congress to pass security, fiscal, electoral, energy, and pension reforms. The administration is grappling with many economic challenges, including the need to upgrade infrastructure, modernize labor laws, and make the energy and manufacturing sectors more competitive.
Calderon stated that his top economic priorities remain reducing poverty and creating jobs. In the face of the serious threat posed by organized crime, the Mexican Congress passed legislation to expand the investigative and intelligence capabilities of the country’s Federal Police. The Mexican Government also bolstered vetting and training requirements for local, state, and federal police forces. In July 2011, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that all human-rights related crimes, including those committed by the military, should be tried in civilian courts.
On Sunday July 5, 2009, the federal elections took place, but this time only the 500 seats of the Lower Chamber were renewed, since these were midterm elections. The midterm national legislative and local elections, which took place in select states, were free of significant violence or claims of fraud.
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