RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Mexico is facing the “biggest” and above all “most complex” elections in its history due to the pandemic, disinformation and a dangerous political polarization, said on Wednesday the president of the National Electoral Institute (INE), Lorenzo Córdova.
“They are the biggest elections and very probably in 2024 they will be too. And they are also the most complex,” said Córdova when talking about the June 6th mid-term elections.
That day, 94 million Mexicans will go to the polls to elect the 500 federal deputies, 15 of the 32 state governors, 30 local congresses and 1,900 city councils, in what are considered the largest elections in the country.
“Never before have so many popularly elected positions been contested as now, around 20,500 at the federal, state and municipal levels,” stressed the head of the electoral body.
MULTIPLE PROBLEMS
But the dimension of these elections is a minor issue compared to other problems.
In the first place, Córdova listed, the country continues to suffer from “structural problems” such as inequality, poverty, corruption or insecurity, aggravated by the economic crisis derived from the pandemic.
“Violence has unfortunately been part of the ordinary landscape of life in our country for the last 15 years,” said the INE president.
In fact, from September to the end of April, 430 attacks have been registered and 78 politicians have been murdered, 23 of them candidates, according to preliminary data shared to Efe by the consulting firm Etellekt, which estimates that these elections may be the bloodiest to date.
Although these difficulties already existed in previous elections, Córdova recalled, he was convinced that there will be no problems to install the 162,000 scheduled voting tables.
Other problems also affect most democracies and are “more recent”: “disinformation” and “fake news”, he said.
And he explained that unlike other countries, which are more censorious, Mexico has sought to “fight disinformation” by seeking alliances with global social network platforms.
To all these factors must be added the pandemic, which has caused more than 2.3 million infections and 215,547 deaths in Mexico, being the third nation in the world in terms of number of deaths after the United States and Brazil.
“We are going to the biggest elections in Latin America this year and obviously this represents a huge challenge. But we are going with a series of measures and sanitary protocols”, stressed Córdova, who explained that they have “fed back” with the recent experiences in Chile and Brazil.
Despite these factors, Córdova celebrated that INE has already practically contacted and trained the 1.46 million Mexicans who will be polling station officials in these elections.
These are in addition to the more than 75,000 INE employees -both permanent and temporary- who are working around the clock.
POLARIZATION
Another of the problems highlighted by Córdova is political polarization, a “phenomenon” that he acknowledged is not only Mexican, although it has its particularities in the country.
“The problem is that today this polarization is being seasoned with a very dangerous component, which is an anti-democratic value par excellence, such as intolerance,” said the head of INE.
As an example, he regretted having heard from “public personalities”, such as businessmen or politicians, phrases such as “INE must die.”
“To me they remind me, and I say this very frankly, of that narrative that preceded some of the worst totalitarian anti-democratic expressions of the last century,” he stressed.
PRESIDENTIAL FRICTION
Lorenzo Córdova, and other INE counselors, have been between the eyebrows of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his party, Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena, left), for weeks.
Just this week, Mexico’s ruling party said it would seek a reform of INE, which it has accused of behaving like the opposition.
And this Tuesday, the Electoral Tribunal ratified INE’s decision to cancel the candidacy of Morena’s controversial candidate for governor of Guerrero, Félix Salgado – who is also accused of sexual abuse – for failing to submit pre-campaign expenses.
“I consider what was approved yesterday by the magistrates of the Electoral Tribunal an excess, it is a blow to democracy,” the president said on Wednesday in his morning press conference.
But for Córdova, the decision of the Electoral Tribunal “helps to redirect the tone of the discussion in view of Election Day.”
In general, he acknowledged that the electoral reforms in Mexico, promoted by the opposition, have left a system that may seem “complex, even variegated,” but today this is the Mexican “democratic game”.
In a context where by law public officials cannot campaign, and there is an electoral ban, acting as “referee” as INE is complicated.
“The referee is condemning himself to look bad to everyone,” Córdova pointed out, quoting Uruguayan journalist and writer Eduardo Galeano.
He added: “The president, like all officials of all governments, are political actors and for better or worse they are bound and regulated by a series of provisions that are in the Constitution.”
This heated atmosphere, in Córdova’s words, does not scare INE: “INE, this INE, these councilors, neither the threats nor the attempts to intimidate are going to have any effect,” he stressed.
He recalled that this electoral body has arbitrated the contests since 2014 and the “highest” level of political alternation in history has been achieved.
“INE has always raised its hand to whoever has won the elections, without looking at whom,” he concluded.