Down Mexico Way

The closeness of the race in Mexico has taken precedence in coverage of the election. With good reason, of course. But there is another, perhaps equally compelling, story, and that is voter turnout. An estimated 41 million people voted on Sunday, July 2. Those 41 million people represent almost 60 percent of eligible voters in Mexico, a country of 106 million people. I cannot recall an election in recent times, anywhere, with such a high turnout. (There are a number of countries in Latin America - Chile, Peru, Uruguay - where the vote is mandatory, but it is not in Mexico.)

What does that say about the Mexican electorate? Does it tell us that they value their democracy and the right to vote? Is it because voting for more than one candidate in Mexico is a relatively new phenomenon and Mexicans are more inspired to exercise their right to vote because of that?

I am watching the count not from the DF, where I'd love to be, but from Montreal (I also love being in Montreal, of course.) Canadians have access to a wide variety of media, including U.S. media, so it is kind of fun to contrast and compare.

Mexico is much more important to the day-to-day life of the United States than it is to Canada. The only really tangible connection Mexico and Canada have is NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement (...well, that and the hoardes of winter-weary tourists that invade Cancun from December to April.) Yet, there has been an appreciable amount of coverage of the Mexico election here. For on, The Globe and Mail, one of Canada's national newspapers, ran a front page story on Calderon "Calderon Declares Victory" on Tuesday, with a giant photo of Calderon above the fold. Montreal's highly regarded Le Devoir and The National Post have both been following developments closely with reports from their own correspondents and not just wire service copy.

Canadians have long been interested in events beyond their borders, so it is perhaps not surprising that they should be so interested in a near neighbor.