Mexico’s Messy and Melancholy Midterm Elections

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On June 7, 2015 Mexico held elections to elect 500 federal deputies, 9 governors, and 1000 mayors.  In the midst of violence and pernicious narco influences, many observers were worried about electoral manipulation and vote suppression, as well as absenteeism.  President Enrique Peña Nieto’s ruling PRI party managed to eke out a victory, in the lower house of Congress, and take many governorships, mainly due to a badly divided opposition and general disgust with politics.  On Election Day there was low turnout and ballot box burnings in various southern states.  Several independent candidates capitalized on the traditional parties’ weaknesses, and the main party of the left, the PRD, lost ground to its break away rival, the Morena party.  Pundits generally mourned the implications for Mexican democracy.