For Mexicans, relief that next president won't have free rein

Pe?a Nieto's win restores power to the PRI, which long held an authoritarian grip on Mexico before being ousted 12 years ago. But more than a decade of democracy has changed things.

By Sara Miller Llana,?Staff writer / July 2, 2012

Mexico's President-elect Enrique Pe?a Nieto meets with the foreign press in Mexico City on Monday, July 2.

Claudia Daut/Reuters

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Enrique Pe?a Nieto of Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) is the clear victor in?the nation's?presidential race. But the candidate, of the historic Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), won with a much smaller mandate than pollsters had anticipated.

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With 94 percent of votes counted, he has about a six-point margin.?Surveys had him anywhere from 10 to 15 points ahead of his nearest rival, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).

?Now Mr. Lopez Obrador, the leftist who famously led a six-week sit-in in downtown Mexico City?to contest the razor-thin defeat in his first presidential bid in 2006, is saying he won't concede defeat.

?No one expects another unpopular protest, but he has said he is waiting until the absolute final results are in to make a statement ? even though Mexican President Felipe Calderon has congratulated Mr. Pe?a Nieto and the National Action Party (PAN) candidate, Josefina Vazquez Mota, promptly stepped down.

For Mexicans worried about what the return of the PRI means for Mexico's democracy, after the PRI ran the country for 71 years as a single party and with an authoritarian grip, this is a welcome sign that Pe?a Nieto won't have an entirely free rein. It is?also unclear that he will have a working majority in Congress, which means the party will have to negotiate hard with the others to push through tough reforms that Pe?a Nieto promised and that Mexico desperately needs.

But there are other reasons that fears should be allayed, say analysts. Mexican voters?shared various opinions about what a PRI ?comback? means, after they were voted out of office in 2000. Some believe the party, with its youthful candidate, has changed; some don't believe in any political class but think the PRI is the best that they've got.

Most Mexicans, however, appear willing to trust their democracy: They might not be sure what the PRI will do once it's in office again, but they do believe that in the 12 years since it has been out, society has changed in dramatic ways. The president no longer holds vast powers. With the opening of its economy, Mexico has also had to open its political system. And from a stronger federal electoral institute to the presence of influential civil society organizations, there is no way the party can get up to its old antics, they say.

?You have more counterbalances,?says Maureen Meyer, Mexico analyst with the?Washington Office on Latin America. ?You have a civil society that has been building its influence. You have stronger political parties in general.?

The PRI ?won?t be able to go back to business as usual,? she adds.

One of the biggest sources of power for the PRI came from its ability to control the vote. In 1988, the party was widely accused of having rigged the elections, after a leftist candidate was coming out front. But in the wake of the outcry the government began the process of overhauling its electoral system, reforms that were strengthened throughout the 90s. By the time the PRI lost in 2000 for the first time, Mexico's?Federal Electoral Institute?(IFE) was considered one of the world's best.

The confidence in the electoral body was tested after Mexico's last presidential election in 2006, when Mr. Lopez Obrador, in his first presidential bid, declared fraud and refused to recognize election results, after losing the race by less than a percentage point. And the feeling that the election was ?stolen? is still strong among Lopez Obrador's supporters.

?Of course the vote was robbed in 2006,? says Hector Galvan, a young resident of?Mexico City?who works in human resources. ?Everything is corruptible here.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/-tepLXSPmOY/For-Mexicans-relief-that-next-president-won-t-have-free-rein

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