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 Editorials | At Issue | August 2006 
Mexico Tries to Reassure Voters
 Marion Lloyd - Houston Chronicle
| | Felipe Calderon, presidential candidate for the National Action Party (PAN), addresses a news conference in Mexico City after a meeting with newly elected members of his party to the congress August 8, 2006. (Reuters/Tomas Bravo) |
More than a month into Mexico's post-electoral nightmare, the country remains locked in legal limbo and the capital besieged by angry protesters.
Not to worry, says the federal government: Mexico's future has never looked brighter. That feel-good message anchors a publicly funded media blitz to revive faith in beleaguered government institutions.
One radio ad by the Federal Electoral Institute, or IFE, thanks millions "for your confidence" in its handling of the disputed July 2 presidential elections. Another, by the presidency, trumpets the success of welfare programs in reducing extreme poverty and promises "opportunities for all."
To many, the public relations barrage is a response to allegations the government rigged the elections to favor Felipe Calderon, the candidate of the ruling National Action Party.
The ads send a not-so-subliminal message to Mexicans across the political spectrum: Trust institutions, not rabble-rousers. Some indicators suggest that strategy isn't working.
Approval ratings for the IFE, which oversaw the election, have slumped from 72 percent in January to 59 percent in the past month, according to a survey by polling firm Ipsos Bimsa.
After the end of seven decades of autocratic one-party rule, many Mexicans have only recently begun to trust their government. This summer's electoral standoff has eroded much of that confidence, especially among supporters of leftist presidential challenger Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
"They just want to trick us and then install the president that they want," said Victor Hugo Avila, a newspaper salesman who voted for Lopez Obrador.
Lopez Obrador, who lost by a whisker to Calderon, according to official results, has charged widespread fraud. He's demanding a full recount and accuses President Vicente Fox of conspiring with the IFE and others to rob him of victory.
"The most painfully embarrassing ad should be the IFE self-congratulation," said Dan Lund of another Mexico City-based polling group. "It's trying to influence public opinion."
A former mayor of Mexico City, Lopez Obrador has rallied millions in the capital and led thousands in blocking avenues with a giant tent city. Calderon has fought back with TV ads demanding that Mexicans "respect the law. Respect the vote."
Still, the ads may be reaching the many Mexicans who are ambivalent about Lopez Obrador's increasingly radical stance.
"It's not our fault or the IFE's fault that he lost, and we shouldn't have to pay the price," said Oscar Cordoba, a convenience-store worker.
"I voted for him because I liked what he did in the city," he said of Lopez Obrador. "But now I think he needs to learn how to lose."
marionlloyd@gmail.com |
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