It’s All in the Follow-Through

Last week’s agreement among Mexican political parties on electoral reform is a major step forward. More, of course, will be needed, for the problem with Mexico’s elections has not been the laws but the implementation of them.

The test will come with the first election under the new rules. Before this can happen, however, Congress and President Ernesto Zedillo will have to establish the new agreement as law, and that could take a while.

The agreement has been hailed as unprecedented in scope, but it is far from the first time that Mexicans have reformed their electoral law. Starting in 1911, almost every president has changed and signed an electoral reform, and many times a president has tinkered with the law again during his term.

None of these electoral reforms have produced an indisputably clean election. Together, however, they have advanced the democratic process, and the current proposed reform of the electoral code contains some praiseworthy changes. Staffing the national election commission with private citizens instead of government officials holds promise, as it may dilute the influence of the ruling party. Another positive change places the tribunals that rule on postelection disputes under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

The changes regarding campaign financing are also welcome. The agreement would require detailed disclosure, place limits on private contributions and redistribute government allocations to ensure equal opportunity for all parties. The reform calls for equal campaign time for all parties on television and radio.

But the proposed reform is incomplete in some aspects. It does not clarify, for instance, the procedure for handling electoral disputes: What will constitute proof of fraud? Another troubling provision permits Mexicans living abroad to vote in Mexican presidential elections. The plan is controversial in California’s large Mexican American communities because it threatens to divert Mexican nationals from their developing American interests.

Perhaps the proof of the plan, if it is adopted, will come in the Mexican countryside with the elimination of what Mexicans call the “Soviet booths,” those sure-fire polling places where the ruling PRI party has tended to win 100% of the vote, and sometimes more.