Electoral Reform in Mexico

Vote Shares to Major Parties

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1979 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003

Perc

ent

PAN PRI PRD and predecessors

Development of Electoral Competition in Mexico

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1979 1982 1985 1988 1991 1994 1997 2000 2003

Election Year

Perc

ent o

f Dis

trict

s

Tripartite (NP > 2.5) Plural Bipartism (2.0 - 2.5) Pure Bipartism (1.5 - 2.0) Hegemonic (1.0 - 1.5)

The Development of a Competitive Electoral Arena

Getting Here from There• Electoral Reform

– The importance of channeling participation– Legitimacy in a “democracy”

• The Emergence of More Effective Parties

The Electoral System and Electoral Reform

A Chronology

• 1946-63: The Restrictive Electoral Regime

• 1963-76: Party Deputies, a partial opening

• 1977-86: Electoral Reform: Representation

• 1986-90: Retrenchment

• 1990-94: Electoral Reform: Transparency

• 1994- : Leveling the Playing Field

Three Themes in Electoral Reform

• Representation versus Governability

• Transparency and the Legitimacy of the electoral process, or clean and free competition

• Fair competition, or campaign finance reform

Representation and Governability

• Main arenas:– Registration of Parties– Congress– Mexico City government

• Governability clauses

Transparency

• Character of the electoral authorities

• Role of the judiciary

• The voter registry

Campaign Finance

• The PRI’s historical advantages– Link to state– Influence with media

• Access to Media

• Campaign spending– Now, too much