Luis Rubio: Mexico Elections Give Rise to Great Electoral Paradox Luis Rubio - CIDAC
go to original July 11, 2013

In the end, everyone won something that will allow political life to proceed. What suffered were the excessive expectations of some of the candidates, whether or not they were on the ballot. In other words, Mexico continues living as always.

This first group of local elections in the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto was binary: their importance would be either dramatic or irrelevant. There would be no half-measures. The significance of Sunday's elections had nothing to do with the elections themselves, the specific locations or the candidates involved. Their significance is derived from the mechanism devised by President Peña Nieto to coordinate the three main political parties and advance a reform agenda: the so-called Pact for Mexico. The instrument has become a mechanism for breaking the legislative and political impasse of the last fifteen years, but it does not enjoy consensus among the political forces, wherein lies its weakness. Hence this set of votes would have become a litmus test for all involved.

A "full car", the way in which the PRI historically described their overwhelming results, would have delivered a mortal blow to the Pact. As was expected, the result was not so dramatic, and each party may assert that they managed enough wins to get out more or less unscathed. These elections ended up being not so important, except as they show the institutional fragility that characterizes Mexico.

Read the rest at Mexico Voices

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