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 Editorials | Issues | November 2006 
Top Official: IFE Mandate ´Lacks Teeth´
 El Universal
| | Mexico's voter registration card. |
In an interview this week with EL UNIVERSAL, the top official at the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) said the nation´s elections will continue to face problems unless the body charged with overseeing them is given more legal resources to punish campaign offenders.
Four months after the disputed presidential election, IFE Chief Councilor Luis Carlos Ugalde argued that the body lacks "teeth" and has no way of making the nation´s media and political parties obey its resolutions.
He also criticized President Vicente Fox, saying he threatened the contest´s integrity by making veiled statements against former candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who alleged fraud after losing to his rival Felipe Calderón, of Fox´s National Action Party (PAN), by less than a percentage point.
"If we want the IFE to be able to quiet the president during the electoral process, it must be given the legal instruments to do so," Ugalde said. "There are no laws preventing the president from expressing his opinions on politics or the candidates."
He added that Fox´s behavior during the campaign was "imprudent" as well as "unnecessary and undesirable."
The president was forced to modify television and radio spots trumpeting his administration´s accomplishments that were aired in the months leading up the election. IFE councilors said the use of Fox´s image and voice in the ads could influence the outcome of the race. The topic is a sensitive one in Mexico, since presidents from the once-dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) routinely named their successors during seven decades of uninterrupted rule.
Ugalde also defended the IFE´s performance during and following the election. López Obrador and his left-leaning coalition of parties have accused Ugalde of rigging the contest in favor of Calderón and have called for an overhaul of the nation´s institutions.
"The IFE isn´t part of the problem," Ugalde said. "The IFE didn´t create the post-electoral conflict, and it acted with enormous transparency."
While most international observers said the elections were clean and fair, some accused the IFE of withholding information during the vote count.
Ugalde acknowledged that the decision to hold off on announcing a winner on election night was unpopular.
"On July 2, the IFE acted in accordance with the script that had been agreed upon by all the political parties," he said. "But now, 45 percent of the population thinks the IFE made a mistake by not announcing the winner that night, according to a study by (polling firm) Parametría."
He added that, "like in any sport, ties produce frustration and that frustration is often directed at the referee."
The IFE was also criticized following the election for failing to disclose that some 500,000 votes were not calculated into the preliminary results due to irregularities in the ballot markings.
Ugalde called for electoral reforms that would reduce the length of the campaign period, forcing parties to expose their decision-making process to public scrutiny and refining rules on candidates´ access to the media and airtime, but added the candidates´ were the principal culprits for the negative tone.
"The responsibility of raising the quality of the campaigns first and foremost corresponds with the candidates," he said. |
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