Mexico before the election

Mexico’s president Felipe Calderon will be watching his country’s upcoming local elections very carefully. That’s because his conservative party is trying to win Congressional seats and Calderon wants to make sure he has enough support to fight the country’s rampant drug problem. Lorne Matalon reports. Listen

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LISA MULLINS: Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon is not up for re-election on Sunday, but he’s gonna be watching the mid term vote closely. Calderon’s conservative pan party is trying to win congressional seats, and the polls have not been favorable. The key issue in Mexico is ramping drug related violence. Calderon has launched a war on drug gangs, and he’s put some traffickers behind bars, but cartel turf wars still kill hundreds of people each month. The world’s Lorne Matalon has been following the campaign in Metepec, he prepared this report.

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LORNE MATALON: She’s 30, well spoken, a graduate of the London School of Economics and media-savvy. Rookie political candidate, Brenda Estefan, a Congressional candidate with Felipe Calderon’s PAN Party, campaigns in Metepec, 2 hours northwest of Mexico City, in the State of Mexico.

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LORNE MATALON: Estefan tells citizens Calderon is a good president. Her outings mirror American-style campaigning. One difference, running for the US Congress can cost up to two million dollars.  Mexican candidates are limited to 60-thousand dollars. Another difference; media time here is bought by the party, not the candidate, which means candidates are constantly pleading with their party bosses in Mexico City to buy airtime in their districts. Estefan was selected by the PAN to run for Congress after four years at the Interior Ministry, which plans Calderon’s assault on the drug cartels. It’s one of several problems Estefan says Mexico inherited from seven decades of PRI rule.

BRENDA ESTEFAN: One of those is the drug dealing and organized crime, which for many governments, for many years was not attended. It was just left behind.

LORNE MATALON: By many governments, Estefan means the PRI, which did not tackle drug dealing in its decades long hold on power.  In his first three years as President, Calderon has had mixed success dealing with the PRI, which acts as a legislative kingmaker, holding the second largest block of seats in Congress after the PAN.  PAN wants to turn its plurality into a majority. And that’s why the party’s chosen candidates, such as Estefan, meant to symbolize a new generation, in such an important race.

BRENDA ESTEFAN: In this drug war, all the initiatives against the drug dealers have to pass through the Congress. And if he doesn’t have a majority, then it would be hard for the people and for the country itself to continue with this drug war.

LORNE MATALON: That’s the PAN’s mantra. Ask voters to support PAN candidates, to help Calderon fight the drug war, and push police and judicial reforms through Congress.

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LORNE MATALON: The radio spot says “to help the President, I’m going to vote for PAN.” The help is a specific reference to the support for the narco-war that Calderon is asking for. The PRI says Calderon is stumbling in that war, but it hasn’t presented its own plan to deal with the cartels.  Latest opinion polling shows the PAN catching up to the PRI. It’s now just four-percentage points behind. The PAN is riding on Calderon’s coat tails. His personal approval rate stands at 65% for his handling of the Swine Flu epidemic, and the roundup of allegedly corrupt politicians. A wildcard in this election is a growing “Annul Your Vote” campaign. That is, destroy or otherwise make your ballot uncountable. Denise Maerker, a columnist at the newspaper El Universal, kick-started the movement by writing, “Why Should We Vote?” a scathing condemnation of Mexican politicians.

DENISE MAERKER: We have been betrayed by the political class, and it’s because they have common interests much more bigger than the interest they have in representing us.

LORNE MATALON: An Ipsos Mexico poll suggests 11% of Mexicans support the ‘Annul Your Vote’ movement. And with the PRI and PAN so close, that could influence the outcome. For The World, I’m Lorne Matalon in Metepec, Mexico.

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