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Elections, Fraud, and Democracy

This chapter examines the rapid swing from would-be authoritarian electoral control to democratic spring and back again. The end of the Second World War fostered the rise of democratic regimes across Latin America. In Mexico the shift was particularly marked for domestic reasons that included pent up demand, a powerful tradition of competitive politics and an increase in the level of violence necessary to rig elections. The emerging civilian elite consequently introduced under pressure primary elections inside the single party, which brought with them a new level of democratic representation. While elections remained flawed, committed voters could choose from a wide range of candidates and exercise a reliable veto power unpopular party choices. This was particularly the case in municipal elections, the ones that mattered most to voters. State and federal governments would let opposition victories stand when the cost of repression was too high. The ensuing polyarchy ended when the PRI ended primary elections in 1950. However the political genes and memories of representative local elections endured and were critical to the democratic transition of the later twentieth century.