| | |  Editorials | Opinions 
What is Voting for Mexicans?
 Guillermo Ramón Adames y Suari - PVNN
June 02, 2010
Mexico has passed from a situation in which "whoever you would vote for, you knew the result beforehand" to a "more democratic counting of votes" system. It has passed from the attitude of "who cares" to "if I don't vote for you, you will not make it". i.e. "I have a decision power" and with this new attitude, people behave as a society face to people who hope to be elected. This article analyses the how of this behavior.
I have identified some categories and they do not have a particular order and I do not think they are exhaustive.
• Punishment vote: It is clearly the vote "against" a political party. To this date, after raising the taxes, the PRI and the PRD will definitely benefit of it.
• "Torta" vote: it is the vote that you give to a given candidate when the party gives you a Mexican Torta and a Coke. We could elaborate the text but it is simple. I buy your vote. There are versions of it and depends on the party: sometimes you get school utensils or the quantity of food you will require for a week. Of course: They take you to the meeting.
• Fantasy vote: it is the vote submitted by dead people… but who still vote.
• Who cares' vote: It is a mostly irresponsible vote. Shows the "couldn't care less" attitude. Even if it is not taken into account.
• Capricious vote: It is the one based on the looks of the candidate. Whether his speeches and his looks correspond to a certain liking. This is not only sexual appealing but the very "Mexican show": A good image. A lot of politicians spend public money in "image" instead of having a more coherent public project but then they look good and people vote for them. At the end, that's what counts.
• Survey vote: This is an induced vote. The candidate in question is far ahead in the surveys therefore you should vote for him/her. This is the typical publicity: 500 million fly's cannot be wrong: "Eat crap".
• Market vote: Massive publicity generates tendencies. I recall during the 2006 elections in the Delegación Benito Juarez, for each display of the PAN's candidate, there were about 10 displays by the PRD's candidate. Money? Who cares, there were always ways around the publicity.
• Absent vote: Simply I won't go.
Then there are the more elaborate votes:
• Moral quality vote: This type of vote is suggested directly or indirectly via a more intellectual context. A social or more profound project is presented by a personality or a political leader. It usually presents some "social consequences" and summarizes the paramount benefits that society will get if you vote for the represented candidate.
• Hard vote: Is the vote that is emitted by militants: They will vote for the party whoever the candidate is.
• Reasoned vote: This is the vote that Mexico needs. A conscious citizen who believes that his vote counts and he try to make the best decision in front of circumstances.
• There are other types of votes: If the person belongs to a religious group or association, minority groups, social network's groups, sexual oriented groups, ethnical groups, "Indian" vote (whatever that might mean: There are hundreds of different Indian settlements all over Mexico), school groups and you name it. The list is long.
The sadness of this sarcastic classification of votes is that Mexicans still keep voting without any civic education. Without consciousness of what we are doing. Without civic responsibility. Without being a coherent country: All Mexico together. We elect our representatives and then criticize them for living very well and not working or stealing. A better civic education could give better results: interview the candidates. Have them debating between them. Compare their projects to even other countries. This technique is used in the United Nations. If people would have a civic education, political parties would notice that people vote more and more for projects, for ideas. But that has been the engine of the country: Pure ignorance.
Guillermo Ramón Adames y Suari is a former electoral officer of the United Nations Organization. Contact him at gui.voting(at)gmail.com |
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us