This guide will no longer be updated, as it was a special project about the 2012 Mexican elections. It will, however, remain available for research purposes.

For further analysis on Mexican politics, please visit the Mexico Portal. Thank you for your interest.

The first month after the election [in Spanish]

CNN México, 8/1/12

Peña Nieto

According to the official results, Enrique Peña Nieto (PRI) won the election with 38% of the vote, followed by  Andrés Manuel López Obrador with 32% of the vote, followed by Josefina Vázquez Mota with 25% and then Gabriel Quadri with 2.5%.  However, the TEPJF is still ruling on the irregularities which the PRD found in the election, namely allegations of voter fraud, the use of more resources than was allowed, manipulation of polls, more and more favorable television coverage and negligence by electoral authorities. The Tribunal’s final decision should emerge by the end of the first week in September. The youth movement YoSoy132 has continued protesting the election and the role of the media, and the PAN has accepted the loss and said that their party needs to be re-vamped.

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Leftist candidate rejects Mexico results as ‘fraudulent’

AFP, 7/2/2012

López Obrador

Leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador rejected the victory of rival Enrique Pena Nieto in Mexico’s presidential election as “fraudulent.” ”We cannot accept a fraudulent result, nobody can accept that,” Lopez Obrador said at a press conference in the capital, claiming that Sunday’s vote was “filthy.”

Lopez Obrador claimed the PRI spent millions of pesos buying votes for their candidates, and that the news media heavily favored Pena Nieto and the PRI. ”We will provide evidence for these claims and will file appropriate legal action,” said Lopez Obrador, emphasizing that he and his supporters will first scrutinize the balloting information with election officials.

In 2006, when Lopez Obrador ran for president and lost by less than one percent, he cried foul and organized protests that paralyzed Mexico City for more than a month.

Will he do it again? “We’re going to wait,” he told reporters, decrying the “national embarrassment” of Sunday’s vote. Read the rest of this entry »

 

Peña Nieto projected winner in Mexican presidential vote

CNN, 7/2/2012

Enrique Peña Nieto is the projected winner of Mexico’s presidential election, according to a quick count by election officials.

Representative samples from polling stations throughout the country gave Peña Nieto the lead, with between 37.93% and 38.55% of votes, the Federal Election Institute said.

The projected victory for Peña Nieto marks a triumphant return to power for the PRI, which controlled Mexico’s presidency for more than 70 years, until the election of the National Action Party’s Vicente Fox in 2000.

“I take with great emotion and a great sense of commitment and full responsibility the mandate Mexicans have granted me today,” Peña Nieto told supporters, standing at a podium with a sign that said “Mexico won.”

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Peña Nieto’s closest competitor, said Sunday night that he wasn’t ready to concede. ”The last word has yet to be said,” the former Mexico City mayor told supporters in the capital late Sunday. An official individual vote tally begins Wednesday. Lopez Obrador trailed by 6 percentage points in the Sunday night quick count, which projected he garnered between 30.90% and 31.86% of the vote.

Ruling party candidate Josefina Vazquez Mota was trailing in exit polls and the quick count projection, which said she received between 25.10% and 26.03% of votes.

Gabriel Quadri of the New Alliance, who lagged far behind in polls before and after the election with less than 3% of votes, praised Mexico’s election authorities Sunday night. ”We have very solid, democratic institutions,” he said.

Read more…

Social Media in the 2012 Presidential Elections: A Testing Ground

Eric L. Olson and Diana Murray Watts, The Mexico Institute’s Elections Guide, 4/30/2012

The 2012 Mexican presidential election has already broken new ground in a number of ways: it is the first to feature a female candidate from a major party and the first to incorporate the electoral reform law of 2007. A third, and perhaps most important, is the extensive use of social media by all three of the major presidential candidates.  It is too early to tell if the social media will be a determining factor or have a major influence, but there is little doubt that it has become a major new form of campaigning in Mexico.

During the 2006 presidential election, social media was in its infancy. At the time, Facebook was still largely limited to users in educational institutions. YouTube was mostly a hub for short, humorous videos. Twitter had yet to be officially launched.  Since then, however, the entire landscape of media and communications have been dramatically altered by the rise of social media. The 2008 U.S. presidential campaign 2008 saw the first major use of such platforms by candidates, and four years later Mexican campaigns seem to be adapting these experiences to the Mexican political landscape.

The three leading candidates vying for the Mexican presidency have made ample use of social media to boost their campaigns. Each candidate, however, has exhibited a unique style in their use of these platforms, particularly since the official permissible start date of their campaigns on March 30^th, 2012.

PAN candidates meet in final debate before the party makes a final decision.

Diana Murray Watts and Eric L. Olson, The Mexico Institute’s Elections Guide, 2/2/2012

On January 31^st, the three remaining candidates for the PAN’s presidential nomination met at the party’s national headquarters for a second debate before party members and affiliated members chose their candidate on February fifth. The nationally broadcast debate was the second between former Congressional leader Josefina Vázquez Mota, former Treasury Secretary Ernesto Cordero, and former Senator Santiago Creel. It was also the first held under new rules designed to encourage interaction and debate between the candidates. Previous debates had been criticized for their tameness because debate rules only allowed candidates to present their positions but not address or debate the positions of others.

Several issues were on the agenda at the debate including the fight against poverty, sustainable development, justice and security. Given the importance of the security debate, we provide the following excerpts from the candidates’ declarations during the debate. (The translations are our own and unofficial).

The Week in Review: 1/23/2012

Katie Putnam, The Mexico Institute’s Elections Guide, 1/23/2012

Mancera

Former Mexico City attorney general Miguel Ángel Mancera wins the PRD’s internal poll, and with it the nod to represent the party in the July 1^st mayoral election. The PRI breaks its electoral alliance with PANAL, the party led by teachers union boss Elba Esther Gordillo, while the presidential hopefuls from the PAN participate in a debate. The PRD´s presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador signs an economic pact with business leaders. Lastly, Mexican Institute colleagues offer views on the evolving electoral landscape.

Reading the Candidates

Andrew Selee, Al Día: News and Analysis from the Mexico Institute, 1/18/2012

Selee

It is a worthwhile exercise to read the books that the Mexican presidential candidates have produced over the past two years.  Each gives a look into the perspectives and unique approach of the candidate – or at least what they hope to project to the Mexican electorate in the upcoming elections.

Enrique Peña Nieto’s book, México: la gran esperanza, Un Estado Eficaz para una democracia de resultados, is the most recent and the most complete one.  It provides a comprehensive proposal for a new PRI administration under his leadership, with the central thesis that Mexico needs to build an efficient and effective state to deal with its contemporary problems.  He addresses issues that range from energy reform, allowing public/private partnerships, to fiscal changes in order to raise revenue to political reform to build a majority-based government.  A cynic might note that the PRI has supported few of these efforts to date, and that the candidate himself stumbled badly in presenting the book at the International Book Fair in Guadalajara, but the book itself is filled with impressive statistics and well-reasoned proposals.  It will be up to Mexican citizens to decide if they believe these proposals or the one who makes them.

The Week in Review: 1/17/2012

Katie Putnam, The Mexico Institute’s Elections Guide, 1/17/2012

Peña Nieto

A new poll confirms Enrique Peña Nieto’s lead, but by a decreasing margin. Michoacán state officials prepare for a new mayoral election in Morelia, but avoid a rematch in the gubernatorial race. The Mexico City mayoral contest heats up, and the campaign teams of several potential presidential candidates are expanded. Lastly, two American analysts assess the nature and impact of the presidential race.

Happy holidays from the Mexico Institute!

We will resume publishing our weekly election articles on January 9th, 2012. Happy New Year!