The Whole World Is Watching : Mexico must accept international observers

Mexico’s political and financial leaders were relieved at Tuesday’s decision by Manuel Camacho Solis to not run for president. But with him out of the race, outgoing President Carlos Salinas de Gortari must take unambiguous steps to guarantee the fairness of next August’s presidential voting. Otherwise, a victory by Salinas’ handpicked successor will be tainted.

Camacho, the former Mexico City mayor who is negotiating peace with anti-government rebels in Chiapas, was the wild card in Mexico’s presidential race. Public opinion polls indicated that he could strongly challenge Luis Donaldo Colosio, who was tapped by Salinas to be the nominee of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

A Camacho candidacy clearly would have erased the predictability of the cycle of Mexican politics--every six years the PRI wins. The concern over the prospect of a forcefully contested race was such that when Camacho’s no-go decision was announced the Mexican stock market soared.

The near-certainty of six more years of PRI rule is worrisome in some respects. Although the PRI has given Mexico 65 years of stability, it has done so at the cost of real democracy. The ruling party’s grasp on power is so firm that most Mexicans are politically apathetic, if not cynical; when the PRI wins an election, many automatically assume fraud has been committed. A wide-open presidential race could have shaken the public’s apathy.

The national Congress must press forward with the electoral reforms recently proposed by President Salinas, such as fair campaign financing and new technology to preclude fraud.

From the perspective of the United States and other foreign countries, the most important of Salinas’ proposed reforms would allow international observers to monitor the coming election. This is a sensitive issue, one involving pride; Mexicans don’t want foreigners acting as if they are the final arbiters of Mexican elections. But 1994 is a special year, with the memory of violence in Chiapas still fresh and the future of the country’s dealings with the rest of the world pumped up by last year’s North American Free Trade Agreement. This year, Mexicans must be prepared to swallow their resistance and not only accept foreign election observers but invite as many as possible.

That is what Salinas says he wants, so the United Nations, the Organization of American States and the rest of the world should take him up on it. If Colosio is to be Mexico’s next president, so be it. But let him be elected in an open and honest vote, with the whole world watching.