[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 109 (Tuesday, August 9, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 9, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                    THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS IN MEXICO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Kolbe] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KOLBE. Mr. Speaker, I have taken this time this evening to just 
share with my colleagues a few thoughts about the elections in Mexico 
which are going to take place in less than 2 weeks.
  I had the privilege of being there this last weekend. I had the 
opportunity to meet with a number of Government officials, to attend 
some political rallies, to go into some of the States, some of the 
States where there has been the most dissension including Chiapas, the 
State where the Zapatista uprising took place just a few months ago.
  I think that all of us in this body would agree, and all of us in the 
Nation would agree, that this election is certainly important to the 
United States, and so I have taken this time just to share a few 
thoughts about what is happening in Mexico with my colleagues.
  It has been said by commentators, and I think it is arguably correct, 
that this election is the most important political event in Mexico 
since the revolution of 1910. This election truly says about the future 
of Mexico the direction that they intend to take with regard to the 
political reforms in that country.
  My colleagues may know that since 1927, since the end of the 
revolution and since the formation of the PRI, which is the party of 
the Government, they have never lost an election, and until a few years 
ago had never lost any election for a national office or for a 
gubernatorial election.
  Now, in this election this year, a concerted effort has been made by 
the Government to change the way elections have been held and to make 
this the most open and the most free and impartial election that has 
taken place. What is involved in this election is, of course, the 
election of the President of the country of Mexico, all of the Chamber 
of Deputies, and three-fourths of the Senate.
  They have recently changed their constitution to assure that in every 
State there will be at least one minority, that is, the second highest 
number of votes in the Senate will go to the senator of that minority 
party, so there is guaranteed to be at least a representation of 25 
percent or more in the Federal Senate by the minority.

                              {time}  2000

  A number of major economic reforms have taken place in the last 10 
years under the leadership of President Salinas and his predecessor. 
But now what we are looking at is the next step, real and significant 
political reform, which is truly the last and most important step 
towards democracy in Mexico.
  I think any of my colleagues who have the privilege to go there and 
to see what is happening would agree that at the very least the 
technological changes that are taking place in this election are very 
impressive. The Government of Mexico has spent or is spending $2 
billion, let me repeat that again, $2 billion, on the infrastructure of 
this election.
  That has to do with making sure that the voter lists are probably the 
most up-to-date in any major country of the world. I think they would 
be considered so by anybody in this country; that every person in 
Mexico has a tamperproof card with a hologram on it and a photo in it; 
they are going to be able to have poll workers picked at random 
observing and controlling the polls at every single location. They also 
have a new federal election commission that for the first time consists 
of six individuals selected by the Congress itself from a list of 
private citizens, not from political leaders but private citizens. 
Everybody on all sides agree that these citizens who control this 
election commission are the most unbiased and best group that could 
possible be put together to oversee the elections in the country of 
Mexico. These are individuals who are intellectuals, media leaders but 
who do not have an ingrained bias for one party or the other.
  There are, as my colleagues may know, three major parties and several 
minor parties that are contesting this election, but let me just touch 
on the three major parties.
  Of course, the PRI, headed up by Mr. Sedio as a candidate, who 
replaced Mr. Colosio after the tragic assassination of that individual. 
He certainly has all the trappings not only of the Government party but 
also has all the machinery of the organization.
  Mr. Speaker, in the course of the next couple of days I will have an 
opportunity to share more with my colleagues about this election and 
its importance, and I hope that my colleagues will follow this very 
closely because it is very important to the future of this country.

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