Thread: Mexico's presidential campaigne.

Many Mexicans Ignore Presidential Campaign
By IOAN GRILLO, Associated Press Writer
Mon Apr 24, 12:23 AM

MEXICO CITY - An old joke is being recycled in the Mexican capital as the campaign gears up for the July presidential elections: "If the three main candidates were together in a plane crash, who would survive?"

The answer: "Mexico!"

The wisecrack about conservative Felipe Calderon, leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Roberto Madrazo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which long held near absolute power in Mexico, illustrates the feelings of many Mexicans toward the first presidential race since the nation restored multiparty democracy in 2000.

And as the candidates have their first televised debate Tuesday, a numbing mixture of apathy and contempt for politicians has infected many voters, raising concerns about voter turnout.

"There are no good candidates," said Rafael Cruz, 79, a retired leather worker from Mexico City, who complains his eldest son was laid off last year and can't find a job. "Do you think that one of these clowns is going to solve all the problems we have?"

During seven decades of PRI rule, winning candidates were pre-selected by party leaders, elections were mostly for show and Mexicans protested, sometimes violently, against corrupt and authoritarian governments.

Now that there is a genuine three-way race for the top job, many complain the candidates are all self-interested and dishonest.

"We used to think that it was just the PRI that was corrupt. Now we see that all of our politicians are a bunch of rats," said Fernando Negrete, a 42-year-old street vendor who isn't sure who to vote for.

Many Mexicans are disappointed that democracy has not solved the problems of crime, poverty and corruption.

Since President Vicente Fox's election in 2000, the economy has grown sluggishly, unable to provide jobs for the nearly 1 million young people who enter the work force each year. Consequently, some 400,000 Mexicans have been heading north annually to work in the United States.

Drug-related bloodshed has accelerated, with some cities seeing shootouts and execution-style killings almost daily.

"The Mexican public is disappointed with their leaders because they hoped democracy would solve all their problems and it hasn't," said political analyst Oscar Aguilar. "Democracy was oversold to people."

The Mexican news media has used a newfound freedom to expose corruption scandals in every major party, airing videos of politicians stuffing a suitcase with cash, asking for bribes and gambling away public funds in casinos. None of these politicians has been convicted.

Concerned about voter apathy in the July 2 vote, the Federal Electoral Institute is running a campaign of radio and TV ads and even staging rock concerts.

"I'm optimistic that Mexicans will respond to the call," said Hugo Alejandro Concha, director of the get-out-the-vote campaign. "Mexicans complain a lot but ultimately they understand the value of democracy."

Most pollsters bet there will be a significant drop in turnout compared to the 2000 election, when nearly 70 percent of eligible voters cast ballots. Only 45 percent of respondents in one recent survey said they would definitely vote in July.

"The last election was about the grand struggle for democracy and this motivated a lot of citizens to vote," said Federico Estevez, a political analyst. "This drama concluded and this gray democracy is not particularly exciting."

A low turnout would weaken the mandate of the next president.

Most of Fox's major reforms have been blocked by opposition lawmakers. The next administration could face even worse gridlock.

Pollsters believe absenteeism would benefit Madrazo and the PRI, still the country's largest political operation.

Calderon and Lopez Obrador are campaigning frantically to energize their followers.

"Without a doubt, getting people to come out and vote is our biggest challenge," said Josefina Vazquez Mota, director of Calderon's campaign.

Calderon is trying to distance himself from corruption scandals, holding his "clean hands" up in the air and targeting university campuses to encourage young voters.

Former Mexico City Mayor Lopez Obrador, the front-runner according to most polls, is campaigning as an antiestablishment voice with a slogan aimed to please the lower classes: "For the good of all, first the poor."

Opponents portray him as a leftist demagogue in the same vein as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Some argue that Mexico need not worry too much about apathy, saying it's common in older democracies.

"Only half the people in the United States vote, but it is still a vigorous democracy," said Jorge Buendia of Ipsos Bimsa polling firm.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights

There are no good candidates," said Rafael Cruz, 79, a retired leather worker from Mexico City, who complains his eldest son was laid off last year and can't find a job. "Do you think that one of these clowns is going to solve all the problems we have?"

During seven decades of PRI rule, winning candidates were pre-selected by party leaders, elections were mostly for show and Mexicans protested, sometimes violently, against corrupt and authoritarian governments.

Hmmmmm.......sounds like us.