Institucionalidad trastocada

IFE, encuestas y elecciones 2012

Abstract

2012 elections, just as those of 2006, the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), institution in charge to play as arbiter, did not fulfilled to its obligation and declare itself unable to enforce the rule of law, according to the Constitutional contour. All of it as part of a “political dispossession” or expropriation of social space by the Estate; on top of the displacement of citizens by political parties; the paper presents the case where an instrument of information of the citizens, the electoral surveys of opinion, was coopted by the government and other de facto powers. Common citizens where “blinded” by an overwhelming wave of surveys, shoot every day of campaigns, inducing misleading information, actually inducing a direction to vote. The number and form of presenting those surveys created a sort of an “electoral market” that ended up distorting all the electoral process. The paper discusses an alternative survey, ( among other few surveys ) which with a single sample, but conducted properly, did have the results that in the end appeared as effective. The whole situation is used to discuss the institutional framework in order to consider a necessary reform to create conditions to have electoral process respectable for all citizenship, as a part of a fundamental change in the political regime in Mexico.