By Ana Carolina Aranda-Jan and Simca Theresa Simpson. Ana Carolina Aranda-Jan is a Postgraduate Research Student in Politics and International Relations at University of Southampton and Simca Theresa Simpson is an MSc Graduate from the Department of Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Following The Economist’s description of the current political crisis in Mexico as the “The Mexican Morass” (http://econ.st/1ExFARX), an apparent warning call from the international community has gone out to the Mexican government to build transparency into its national administration.
Peña Nieto’s government comes in the new wake of the democratization process in Mexico. This has meant the end of the single-party system, the election of Partido Acción Nacional (Right-party) administrations for two terms. The current president claims to be the new face of the PRI (the party that ruled Mexico for more than 70 years), and the only government capable of pushing for the reforms needed to achieve the economic and social growth needed to move towards greater development. Indeed, Peña Nieto’s Administration passed constitutional transformations in Congress at an astonishing pace, and succeeded at enshrining political alliances and the Pacto por México (Pact for Mexico) into these changes. Through the Pact, the three major parties in Mexico commit themselves to analysing the constitutional reforms and working together to achieve development. However, once the constitutional reforms were passed, the Pact ended and the normal political discrepancies were back to normal. Nonetheless, the economic situation seemed to be improving, mainly, because the reforms allowed investment into economic sectors that had formerly been closed to private investment. The perfect storm was brewed under this political environment, nonetheless, with the events of the #Ayotzinapa kidnaping, the #Tlataya massacre and the discovery of links between members of the current administration and Grupo Higa (a business empire that won numerous contracts under Peña’s administration in the State of Mexico). To make matters worse, investment rates and predicted economic growth rates in the country are less stellar than expected, and as an oil-producing country, drops in petrol prices translate into greater misfortune.
The government has called for the Mexican people to overcome these events through a series of measures. However, Mexican society continues to reject the actions and information provided thus far by the government. The Mexican people have little faith in the discourse that the government is presenting. Likewise, with a tremendous lack of accountability, matching that of the current administration, the opposition parties haven’t provided a real alternative or taken a stand in the fact of these events. To complicate matters further, 2015 is an electoral year in Mexico, and under this perfect storm is not clear what stances the parties, including the President’s own, will take. It is likely that Mexico is experiencing one of its worst periods of political crisis, and to date the parties have no concrete solutions for facing June’s impending elections.
In this environment, three scenarios are possible in terms of addressing the events that have recently unfolded in Mexico in election time. First, the current administration could come up with a credible proposal to fight corruption and strengthen accountability. This would certainly strengthen the standing of their party (the PRI). Secondly the opposition could seize this opportunity and come up with credible proposals (other than those taken up by the current administration). This could give them a better chance at winning more seats in Congress. The third option, however, is a stalemate in which recent events are swept under the carpet, and the electoral process trudges along comme si rien n’était. The third option is of course the most dreadful.
It is likely that the only way for Mexico to move towards reducing corruption and policing it, will be for all politicians to view this topic as a political issue rather than simply joining the race for the best rhetorical defence in the face of accusations. The only way for truly make fighting corruption an issue on the agenda is for politicians of all stripes to realise that this is the only way to truly gain the trust of the citizenry. Has Mexico reached the point at which transparency can be a political topic, or are politicians so self-interested that they will blacklist the fight against corruption as an agenda item, because most of them have themselves been stained by acts of corruption at some point in their political career?
This electoral period may actually been marked by the most diluted political debates since the democratization process gained steam. The campaigns are approaching and it will be seen how political parties start to frame their campaigns. The Mexican people can hope that politicians do not take the third option: to sweep recent events under carpet and simply wait for this moment to pass. Many topics for campaign agendas could be taken from the #Ayotzinapa, #Tlataya, and the conflict of interest scandal. This is a good opportunity for Mexican politicians to frame their agendas in a new light.
The current situation in Mexico is an opportunity to build true politics of anti-corruption and accountability. General agreement and political consensus happened with the electoral reforms that put the country on the path to democracy. This probably caused the PRI to lose the elections in 1997 and; then 2000 and 2006. They shot themselves in the foot. However, the party came back onto the scene with a significant role, allowing it to secure the presidency once again in 2012. That’s how politics works.
The good news is that today the electoral system in Mexico is more democratic than before. It is true that it still needs transformations and discussions are underway for improving the electoral system, however, the impact of democratic transformations cannot be denied. There is no doubt that the electoral system is stronger than 20 years ago. General consensus pushed forward the electoral reforms in the 90s that ended Mexico’s single-party system in Mexico. But, can a general agreement be secured about fighting corruption or are there many personal interests that make accountability an impossible political topic? Will Mexicans be able to say in the coming years that the system is less corrupt than in the past? Truly this is a call for politicians to put tackling corruption on the political agenda, for the benefit of Mexican society.