Few in Baja participate in latest Mexican election
By Sandra Dibble
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
2:00 a.m. July 7, 2009
TIJUANA — Baja California's voters stood firmly behind President Felipe Calderoěn's National Action Party in Sunday's federal midterm elections,
bucking the national trend of resurgence for the once-dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party.
The state stood out in another aspect as well, with the lowest turnout in Mexico. The state turnout was 30.57 percent, compared with the national
average of 44.68 percent, according to preliminary figures from Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute.
"There are elections that are of great interest," to Baja California voters, "and others that are not," said Tonatiuh Guillen, president of the
Colegio de la Frontera Norte, a Tijuana think tank.
Guillen and other analysts say the election has once again exposed the weakness of the PRI in the border state. Nationally, the party that once ruled
Mexico for 70 years re-emerged as a dominant force in Mexico's lower house.
In Baja California, "the PRI has not developed an organizational structure," said David Shirk, director of the Trans-Border Institute at the
University of San Diego.
Baja California, with 2.2 million voters, long has been a bastion of the PAN. The party has won every gubernatorial race since 1989, though voters
sometimes have switched to PRI candidates in races for mayor and in state and federal legislative contests.
"Nobody completely fulfills their promise, but the PAN has fulfilled some of what it has promised," Susanna Jimenez, 41, an airline employee said
Sunday as she cast her vote for the PAN at a polling booth set up at the airport.
Statewide figures show that more than 6 percent of the votes — more than twice the usual percentage — had to be annulled because the ballots were not
correctly filled out. The figures suggest that a significant number of Baja California voters voided their votes deliberately, participating in a
nationwide protest movement meant to send a message to Mexico's political parties.
"They're useless," read a voter's message scrawled across a ballot annulled with a large X at a polling booth off the free road to Rosarito.
The rise in voided ballots sends "a very strong message that is measurable and that should lead to a strong self-criticism among all parties," said
Guillen of the Colegio de la Frontera Norte. "There is a demand for modernization of the political system."
Rodrigo Robledo, the PAN's Tijuana municipal president, reflected on the election's results Sunday night as a group of young party supporters danced
in celebration outside the PAN's Tijuana headquarters.
"What this tells me is that we need to revise our relationship with society," Robledo said.
In the Baja California capital of Mexicali yesterday, PRI state president Rene Mendivil Acosta said the turnout numbers were sobering.
"Abstentionism, apathy and indifference toward political parties is what triumphed in Baja California," Mendivil said. "It's a message that should
make all political parties think."
Union-Tribune
Nothing new
Dave - 7-8-2009 at 08:52 AM
Happens in the States. Apathy was the winner of the last three U.S. presidential elections.CaboRon - 7-8-2009 at 09:51 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by Dave
Happens in the States. Apathy was the winner of the last three U.S. presidential elections.
I totally agree, democracy is dependant on particapation ....
However I was under the impression this forum was about Baja .....
Correct
Dave - 7-8-2009 at 10:38 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by CaboRon
However I was under the impression this forum was about Baja .....
However, I was under the impression that your post was directed solely against Mexicans.
Participation Optional
MrBillM - 7-8-2009 at 11:00 AM
IF the populace is not impeded from voting and they choose not to, so be it.
I don't think the argument can be made that High Voter Participation results in Good Government. On the contrary, High Voter Numbers usually mean
that too many Ignorant people have showed up.
Without touching on the U.S. election, it's a Fact that Foreign countries with high Voter Turnouts can't show that such has resulted in better
government.
It doesn't even result in better harmony. An oft-repeated canard is that a high turnout will result in the populace being better satisfied with the
result. There is nothing to show that actually happens. Those who lost have time and again shown their outrage at losing by rioting.MitchMan - 7-9-2009 at 08:25 AM
I guess the real lesson here is that the electorate has to vote "intelligently". That is, the electorate has to have the work ethic to do the
research on candidates AND be properly motivated using sound logic and good moral sense to the select the best candidate for the people. Apparently,
this has turned out to be way too much to ask.
In 2000, the USA elected as president who lost all the debates that was clearly the least intelligent and most ignorant and least articulate guy out
of all the possible candidates ... and the USA did it TWICE!
In my opinion, in the final analysis, the electorate, the people are absolutely responsible for the bad things that happen when they elect the wrong
person. In the case of the USA, you never hear of anyone actually pointing the finger of blame at the people who elected a fool , instead people
blame the elected fool and to a lesser degree his specific supporters. The wagging finger of blame for the Bush administration should be pointed
directly at all of the electorate; at the Republicans for their pigheadedness and at the democrats for their complacency and lack of support for its
nominated candidate.
Smarts
MrBillM - 7-9-2009 at 04:54 PM
I would be willing to bet that, IF the IQ of every person who voted in the 2008 election could be determined, it would be found that the resulting
figure would be higher for Crazy Johnny than Hussein.
You KNOW that's true. We've seen enough of Obi's Welfare Constituency on TV. IF you could understand what they're saying, the words still wouldn't
make any sense.MitchMan - 7-10-2009 at 11:22 AM
You'd lose the bet.
No Way to Prove One Way or the Other, BUT..........
MrBillM - 7-10-2009 at 01:33 PM
Considering that the overall margin in the Popular Vote wasn't that great and the Ethnic "Underclass" vote for Hussein was overwhelming, I still think
I would be likely to prevail.
That category has a Whole bunch of Dummies.Cypress - 7-10-2009 at 01:56 PM
A lot of so called intelligent/ educated people voted for Obama. Hope they're happy with their choice.MitchMan - 7-10-2009 at 05:42 PM
They are.
Oh, they are ????????????
beercan - 7-10-2009 at 05:54 PM
CortezBlue - 7-10-2009 at 06:13 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by Dave
Happens in the States. Apathy was the winner of the last three U.S. presidential elections.
However, we are not a "TRUE" democracy, we are a representative republic democracy. A BIG difference.CortezBlue - 7-11-2009 at 07:25 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by beercan
People wanted change and now that is all we have left, some change!
Buyer's Remorse
MrBillM - 7-11-2009 at 09:31 AM
There was a breakdown of one of the latest Rasmussen polls ayer wherein those polled showed more confidence in the GOP than the Dems on Eight of the
Ten critical campaign issues. On the two remaining, Health Care and Education (typically STRONG Dem issues), the small amount that the GOP trailed
was the lowest in years.
All of the nonsense about the Eternal DEATH of the GOP was shortlived. Events and performance will drive the numbers and, as things continue to go
South at an incredible pace, how we approach the 2010 elections will be critical.
The Politico Blowhards continue to say that the Obi numbers are STILL high, but it's pointed out that they're the same as GWB AND Richard Nixon at
this point. Context is everything.Cypress - 7-11-2009 at 09:39 AM
They even came back from dead to vote in some parts of the USA.MitchMan - 7-11-2009 at 11:45 AM
In my opinion, the one thing that the right wing (RW) knows how to do is fight. Even though the RW is suffering right now, there is no doubt in my
mind that they will return with strength. It could be soon, it could be a little longer than soon, but it won't be a long time from now.
The left wing (LW) doesn't know how to fight, and, as a whole, doesn't have the inclination for a head on fight. Though there are a few that do know
how to fight, there aren't enough of them to withstand a head-to-head battle with the RW.
The saving grace for the LW is if the pundits are correct in their belief that the RW needs to have a "bigger tent", or, statistically, they RW will
never acquire the voting strength to come back completely or enough. If that's true, then the RW will be the big perpetual loosers on into the
future in spite of their ability to fight.
The one thing that the RW does not and never will possess is the heart and mind required for a "Big Tent". It is not fundamentally conservative, RW,
or Republican to be that magnanimous, egalitarian, open minded and tolerant to sustain a true Big Tent.
