Mexico’s 2006 Elections

Abstract

As Mexico approaches its 2006 elections, it is simultaneously experiencing the exhaustion of its neoliberal economic model and a political crisis in which the presidency lacks its historical sources of support, the legislature’s power has been limited by the Supreme Court, and the court itself is increasingly discredited. The system of political parties is also in disarray, with deepening divisions between parties, among the leaders within each party, and in the Instituto Federal Electoral itself. Motivated by these circumstances, as well as by high unemployment, low wages, and privatization of strategic public enterprises, an emerging social force, both urban and rural, has begun to seek electoral outlets for its growing dissatisfaction with neoliberalism. The result is a transitional election combining concerns for public security with variants of populism from the right and left aimed at the political reformulation of neoliberalism.