IFE starts to register voters living "abroad." More balanced this time?

IFE, the Mexican Federal Electoral Institute responsible for arranging Mexico's federal elections,  now has started the process of registering voters "abroad," meaning in all essence the United States, for the 2012 contests. Mexican expats can access the site http://www.votoextranjero.mx/ for more information.

In this regard, I would here like to particularly recommend the chapter "Absentee Voting and Transnational Civic Engagement among Mexican Expatriates, by James McCann et al in the 2009 edited volume Consolidating Mexico's Democracy: The 2006 Presidential Campaign in Comparative Perspective by Jorge  Domínguez et al.

In essence, it describes how PRI-PAN-PRD support was quite even in the US, but that the (abysmally low number of) voters who actually took the trouble of voting in the US, did it overwhelmingly for PAN. They explain this as essentially due to the institutional hurdles to be overcome, far easier surmounted by more resource-rich and more highly educated panistas.

Let's hope IFE makes a serious effort to address these inequities in the expat voting process.

Even PAN's national party leader hints at a "de facto alliance"

Quite noteworthy: PAN's national president, Gustavo Madero, said yesterday that while the PRD's national council, through lack of a 2/3 majority, failed to approve an official alliance with the PAN, a "de facto alliance" between the two opposition parties might very well be an option.

It is very hard to imagine an end to the 82-year-old hegemony of the PRI in Mexico State if PAN and PRD go separately, and Madero knows this fully well. Yet never before has the possibility that PAN may decline in favor of the PRD candidate been noted by someone of Madero's stature.