| | |  Editorials | Opinions 
Is the Electronic Voting System Ready to Operate in Mexico?
 Guillermo Ramon Adames Suari - PVNN
January 22, 2010
 |  | An electronic voting system would open the door to a referendum. To my mind, the very first thing people would ask for referendum would be to abolish immunity privileges for politicians. |  | | |
It almost is but many people stop it! It is difficult to believe when we read in Mexican newspapers that altogether the Mexican equivalent to the IRS is ready to receive payments and cancelations of tax payments "via cell-phone", (El Universal "CARTERA" "SAT: Se podrá pagar impuestos por celular" January 18, 2010) and that Mexico is not yet ready for the Electronic vote. You read right, the SAT statement is beyond Internet. Through a cell-phone, not through exclusive Smart phones. Alternatively, the electronic voting system is currently "under study and evaluation".
Try to explain to an ordinary citizen that when it is a matter of collecting HIS taxes, it is ok to get the most sophisticated ways to do it. This system is available in Japan, and in the Scandinavian countries. To my knowledge, we are Latin American leaders in this matter… but when it comes to voting, "Mexico has to study the security of the voting system". For God's sake, what are we talking about? When it is a matter of getting your money out of your pocket, all sorts of electronic systems are ok: whatever means to get it!!! When it is a matter of opinion to decide anything on the course of the country: we have to study the procedure…
This is the democratic situation in Mexico nowadays. Democracy has certainly made a strong impact in Mexican society recently and the message is clear. Thousands of emails are circulating today in Mexico to force diminish the number of Congressmen on both Chambers. More and more emails are coming out under relatively the same headings. One of them called my attention. The largest democracy in the world, India, has 542 Congressmen. A country with 1,2 billion inhabitants has 542 Congressmen. Mexico with 110 million has 628 Congressmen in both Chambers. This is the most impressive argument I have received. Check it in Wikipedia. If we were to follow the Indian representation rate, we should have 50 congressmen altogether. This would simply mean that 570 government officials (between both chambers) would have to look for a job. Unfortunately for Mexico, "they" are the ones who decide who has a job as a legislator and how much they earn and how many they are. Only a Presidential decree (just like the one abolishing Luz y Fuerza del Centro) could diminish the amount of people to compose Congress in the Mexican political system: This is not bound to happen soon. The PAN has lost momentum and power. The PRI will simply not approve it.
But let's go back to electronic voting. Why is it not working as effectively as the tax collection system for the SAT? Some arguments have been presented: The one that has been discussed at informal circles of the Universidad Iberoamericana is as follows: "Real" elections in Mexico are a relatively new process. In the past, whenever an election came up, "all the friends" had a post at the end of the elections. If we have an electronic voting system, "all the friends" will certainly not have a post. Even today, how does the Lower Chamber operate? Whenever any voting procedure comes up in Congress, before the publication of final results, members of Congress get together and arrange "after the voting procedure" inter-party" agreements. So some "crucial friends" are not left off the game. Final results come out but the "winner" of the elective procedure has "commitments" and if he does not honor them, he gets banned… an example? Iztapalapa's Juanito!!! So his political party won but he offered to leave the post to be taken over by somebody else from even another political party.
What does electronic voting have to do with all that? If all of the Electoral Institutes in Mexico would publish the results as they are with an electronic voting system, RIGHT AFTER THE FINAL COUNTING, commitments and compromises could not be generated by the winning candidate. It looks like the current electoral system in Mexico has passed from a Party monopoly to electing through voting. Today Mexico is at the stage of "YES BUT" and the electronic voting system would erase the "BUT" component.
What most politicians are worried (but terribly worried) about is the possibility of a Referendum for Mexico. The Mexican population would jump from referendum to referendum. Basically to abolish all sorts of privileges still existing in Mexico's political class. And there are many privileges. An Electronic voting system would open the door to a referendum. To my mind, the very first thing people would ask for referendum would be to abolish immunity privileges for politicians. Far too many abuses have been made by people in power. Referendum would bring them to tribunals. Everybody would be scared: From the politicians themselves to lawyers and judges. Too many abuses. People are hungry for justice.
Guillermo Ramón Adames y Suari is a former electoral officer of the United Nations Organization. Contact him at gui.voting(at)gmail.com |
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