The power shift that took place in 2000 in Mexico triggered a reconfiguration of the political system. This resulting demand for institutional reforms caused tension in both the electoral process and system of government generally.
On the one hand, the polarizing 2006 presidential election was followed by electoral reform that was successfully tested in the 2009 mid-term elections. On the other hand, these changes to the electoral system across the Mexican states produced divided governments and diluted the efficiency of the presidential system.
This led to the search for further reforms including adjustments to political and party systems. Such reforms are needed if Mexico is to make progress in areas like taxation, labor and energy issues.
At the same time, Mexico’s legal and institutional structures need to be strengthened in the face of powerful threats from organized crime and drug trafficking, which can have an impact on political and electoral processes.
Both, fifteen local races held in 2010 and another five that took place in July 2011 have contributed and will continue to shape the political scenario toward the 2012 Presidential election. Whether after mid-term 2009 elections most of the Mexican citizens were convinced that the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) would have taken an irreversible lead in the political race to capture the Presidency, the 2010 local elections results produced a change in perception and it could move even more on the opposite sense as the electoral process begins, next October 2011. Then, intense party competence and contextual conditions will press on the institutional framework and democratic electoral process.
Consequently, International IDEA’s Mexico programme will continue to support both the process of constitutional and legal political reform, and electoral process and democracy as well.
International IDEA will continue to support both the Senate and the Executive Branch by providing advice on constitutional and legal matters and other useful materials on elections and political systems. Besides, it will carry out specialized seminars on topics regarding the electoral process, the role of the electoral bodies, government, political parties, media, and civil society organizations including a gender equity view. To do this last, International IDEA will keep close collaboration with the Colegio de Mexico (COLMEX), the Institute for Legal Research from UNAM, the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), and the Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judicial Power.
