Challenges of an electoral democracy: Illegal campaign finance and vote buying in Mexico

• In Event: Brokers and Clientelism

Abstract

This essay studies some lingering vulnerabilities in Mexico’s democracy. Concretely, I document three aspects of the electoral process where important flaws remain in spite of profound efforts at democratization in the past three decades: (1) Clientelism and vote buying, especially at the state and municipal levels. (2) Media bias, especially in the television duopoly. And (3) illegal campaign financing, especially by the formerly hegemonic Partido de la Revolucion Institucional (PRI). I focus on assessing the main allegations of undemocratic practices in the 2012 election in Mexico using the existing qualitative and quantitative evidence. I evaluate the merit of each accusation based on the existing statistical studies, opinion polls, judicial reports, journalistic accounts and other primary sources. One set of allegations fails to convince due to weak, incomplete, or overstated proofs. But another set of accusations does credibly point to old-school manipulation tactics. Then I analyze the impact that such accusations had on the subsequent legal reforms, in particular the creation of the National Electoral Institute (INE) in 2014. The analysis also identifies areas where new legislation would be needed to avoid similar concerns in future elections.

Author

• Gilles Serra, Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas CIDE