Greetings -



As Mexico and the world watch and await the outcomes of the national elections, Alianza Civica, an elections monitoring group, sends the following announcement about the elections monitoring process.  For more information, contact Gonzalo Manrique with Alianza Civica, at opaonegro[at] hotmail.com .



-- Patrick Burkart



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Responsibility and Citizen Rights Do Not End With the Vote



Alianza Cívica (Civil Alliance) is a plural, nonpartisan citizen movement that for the last 12 years has been dedicated to the establishment of democracy in Mexico.  The movement focuses on the transparent changing and exercising of government after elections and in the electoral processes, coming up with formation strategies for civic participation, in coordination with social networks and civil groups on the national level.



Alianza Cívica promotes a new relationship between the citizen and the state that does not stop at the electoral process. It considers responsible participation and the informing of citizens as necessary conditions for a true democratic transition in Mexico. The areas of access to information and transparency, electoral politics and the construction of a citizenship and a civil society, are fundamental to our mission.



Alianza Cívica has participated and monitored the federal elections and more than 50 local elections since 1994. There have also been successful efforts in encouraging public meetings and plebiscites that recognize the judicial mechanisms that make up a citizen's decision.



For the actual electoral process, Alianza Cívica has unraveled a Program of Citizenship Observation, supporting among others the ONU, a program of the United Nations that addresses the following projects:



Monitoring Social Programs: This project focuses on monitoring federal and state-level social programs in underprivileged areas by looking at the benefits that these areas are receiving. The objective is to detect and condemn the buying of votes and other actions that could influence how these areas vote in the elections.



Citizen Kaleidoscope: This project focuses on the daily monitoring of candidates, political parties and other political actors by looking at 21 different mediums of communication, with a main concentration on national coverage.  This project hopes to offer the citizen alternative tools of analysis that might facilitate an informed and responsible vote.



Citizenship Election Observation on July 2nd: In participation with national and international volunteers, this project will take place across the country in monitoring the actual election, particularly in areas that are considered high-risk for the buying of votes or the influence of how citizens will vote.



Monitoring Social Programs



In Alianza Cívica we have enacted the project that monitors social programs and public services in underprivileged areas. In the past, this method has been used to pressure people into voting for certain candidates and in buying votes for millions of potential voters.  As seen in recent years, these votes could mean the difference in a close election.



Alianza Cívica has documented the use of this method since 1994 across different elections at all three levels of government.  To avoid the use of these tactics, Alianza Cívica in cooperation with civil and social organizations in 25 states is following four social programs and the benefits that are being provided to underprivileged areas.

The intent of this project is to identify and condemn tactics that are interfering with democracy in Mexico.



The social programs that are being monitored on the federal level are: Oportunidades (Opportunities), Seguro Popular (Popular Security), Procampo y Programa de Empleo Temporal (Program for Temporary Work), along with a specific state program that the organization considers important by looking at these characteristics: Adultos Mayores (Elderly), Programa de Alimentación del DIF (Despensas) y Piso Firme (Food Bank), and others.



Alianza Cívica has documented the buying of votes as having a major impact in urban areas where these tactics affect major groups of voters in the population. Alianza Cívica has also recognized the influence in rural areas where these tactics are done openly and with impunity.



It is problematic that the buying and influencing of votes affects the electoral process without annulling the results of the polling stations where these tacitics are being utilized.



Alianza Cívica is also worried that the Fiscalía Especial para la Atención de Delitos Electorales (Fepade), or the office responsible for monitoring electoral fraud, is not an unbiased source for presenting or denouncing electoral fraud because many of the electoral crimes on the state-level occur on the federal-level, making the office restricted in what they uncover.



On July 2, almost 2,000 observers of Alianza Cívica, both national and international observers that have been accredited by IFE, will be observing the polling stations of areas considered as high-risk due to past conflicts and areas where buying of votes and pressuring of voters is common. This is to ensure that the vote of individuals will be free, universal, secret and effective.



Citizen Kaleidoscope



Alianza Cívica depends in large part on the monitoring of media and in the political analysis of Mexico.  This project entitled Citizen Kaleidoscope is a detailed investigation of the current political scene by critically looking at actions and coverage of the political parties.  This project intends to offer citizens tools to be able to come up with decision of who they will vote for on Election Day.



The political scene has its own discourse where candidates rhetorically present an impression of reality that influences our perceptions of what occurs in the country and how democracy works in Mexico. The actors, in this case politicians talk, act, present and use the media as a way to present themselves favorably to the public.



Citizen Kaleidoscope has its own methodology that allows the listing of the main speeches and discourse of candidates and parties, lobby groups, institutions, social organizations, and social movements, along with the monitoring of media in relation to the 21 ethic-democratic principles defined from the perspectives of human rights and gender issues.  Using the normative and axiological positions of these two perspectives, these areas are explored: Competition and legality, participation, transparency and certainty, impartiality, respect and correspondence, etc. The selection of more than 20 media outlets is based on the criteria of incidence, coverage, presence and penetration on the national level.



Alianza Cívica contributes to the construction of a new citizen where the rules of democracy are respected in efforts to see democracy becomes a reality in Mexico.