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BLANK-BALLOT CAMPAIGN COULD AFFECT JULY 5 ELECTIONS.

Article Excerpt
Mexican citizens are disgusted with the state of politics and government but are finding no viable alternatives to replace the status quo. The governing Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) is feeling the heat for its failure to curb drug-related violence and is to some extent also identified with the downturn that has the Mexican economy in the doldrums. The opposition Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) was poised to take advantage of the PAN's woes, but many citizens are not certain whether the party has abandoned its corrupt past. The center-left parties are so fractured and corrupted that many voters do not consider them a viable alternative. This has prompted many voters to strongly consider an independent campaign to vote for "None of the Above" in the upcoming congressional and gubernatorial elections on July 5.

Campaign seeks to send political parties a signal

The campaign, which has become known as the "Voto en Blanco" or "Voto Nulo" campaign, urges citizens to cast blank ballots in the election to send the establishment parties a signal that citizens are not happy with the way things are going. But not all citizens are going to protest the lack of choices by casting a blank ballot; many will simply not bother to vote. Electoral authorities are anticipating very low participation in this year's midterm elections, which has tended to be low through the years. Some polls indicate that as many as 60% of Mexico's registered voters could stay home on July 5.

The campaign appears to be a spontaneous movement emerging through blogs, YouTube, email, and other modern communications tools. The message simply urges voters to draw one big cross on the ballot, which will feature races for all 500 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, six gubernatorial posts, and hundreds of state and municipal offices, including the mayoral positions in Guadalajara and Monterrey.

Jose Antonio Crespo Mendoza, a political analyst at the Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economica (CIDE) in Mexico City, suggests that many Mexican citizens want to exercise their right to vote but are not at all happy with any of the choices. "I am hearing more support for the blank vote than for abstention," Crespo told reporters.

Because of the use of the latest technological tools, many pundits...

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