Mexico mirrors America

A common lament we hear in American politics today is how polarized our nation’s political… A common lament we hear in American politics today is how polarized our nation’s political clime has become over the course of this past decade. Certainly, it’s tough to dispute that these days. But perhaps those who are unsettled by this recent trend may feel a little bit better when they compare the temperament of our country’s politics to the fracas our southern neighbor is stewing in, or maybe a little bit worse, if you consider our relative apathy. For all the ire in American politics, our political divide is still largely rhetorical when you think about it; the political mood south of the border, though, has mobs blocking the streets of Mexico City right now.

Only six years after busting the old PRI party’s 70-year-long grip on power and ushering in a new era of relative democracy, Mexico’s turbulent politics are already testing the limits of the democratic system. A very close presidential race has both the leading candidates trumpeting themselves as the victor. Felipe Calderon of the right-wing party PAN – also the party of outgoing president Vicente Fox – should be the winner, by a razor-thin margin (.058% to be exact), if the current official verdict stays official.

But his rival, Lopez Obrador from the left-of-center PRD party (although officially he is the candidate for a coalition of left-wing parties, clumsily titled “The Alliance for the Good of All”) has been up in arms ever since Election Day with his supporters howling for a nationwide recount in answer to their allegations of mass electoral fraud.

The election had been declared too close to call by Mexico’s Federal Electoral Institute on July 2 – the official day of the election – and after an official count of the ballot boxes, they announced Calderon the winner by a slim lead of about 244,000 votes. Obrador’s supporters cried foul play, and protesters numbering at times in the hundreds of thousands flooded Mexico City’s main streets, in some areas even setting up tented encampments, choking traffic and promising not to budge until demands for a full recount are met.

Nearly a month ago, a BBC article reported that Obrador’s party warned Calderon that he would be “under siege” should he assume office. On Sept. 1, left-wing members of Congress stormed the podium and cut off President Fox’s State of the Nation address. In spite of all the mayhem, the protesters have remained largely peaceful at the behest of Obrador. Having previously been a very popular Federal District Head (the equivalent of the mayor of D.C.) in Mexico City, Obrador holds a lot of popular sway in the capital.

Perhaps irked by the ensuing chaos, Mexico’s Federal Electoral Court stepped in and rejected any further steps towards a full recount after a small recount sampling of 9 percent of the vote was conducted. This partial recount did uncover a fair amount of ballot fraud, but not enough, says the court, to justify going any further. Last week, the court declared Calderon the winner, but Obrador and his followers still refuse to give in.

Well, I’m sure Americans can identify with this whole recount scenario, though the scale of controversy we’ve gone through for elections never quite reached this extreme. Right now, the vibe of Mexico’s political arena is like that of a WWF tournament and the Million Man March rolled into one. Could you picture that for our recent electoral disputes? Just imagine if the Democrats and their constituency were as actively defiant and hardcore as Obrador and his posse. The thought of someone as wooden as Kerry or Gore in the role of a firebrand spearheading a maverick crowd just sounds funny, if not embarrassing. Bush already is embarrassing. While on one hand, it’s good that our lawmakers generally maintain a civil atmosphere, I also can’t help but think it’d be refreshing to have some fiery, dynamic politicians for a change. Howard Dean doesn’t quite pull it off.

But I digress there. The issue on the table is electoral fraud, of course, and that’s never fun. We all remember how murky that is from the days of the Florida recount. The electoral process is caught between a rock and a hard place: it could either stagnate under the weight of legal wrangling over the proper way to recount the votes or risk a shaky mandate if it refuses to perform a thorough recount. And a very shaky mandate indeed is what Calderon faces if Obrador’s constituency is not assuaged.

I feel that, tedious as it may be, a full recount would be the best route towards restoring some peace and quiet in Mexico. If nothing else, it is impressive that such a huge host of people have gone out of their way to protest so fervently in the name of clean elections – something that Mexico isn’t historically known for. If Calderon really won fair and square, then he has nothing to lose, and he’ll have the added bonus of Obrador suddenly looking like a supreme jackass if it turns out he organized all these protests for nothing.

This coming Saturday, Obrador will be holding a mass conference with his followers on future plans for his civil resistance movement. Mexico’s democracy is being shaken to its core, but at least it’s getting people active about it.