FOUR NATIONS; AFTER THE ELECTION  

November 25, 2008

After seeing the sort of thing that happens in Venezuela, Nicaragua and Mexico after their elections, it is comforting to note that in the United States no one has called out the military or sent tanks into the streets nor is attempting to resolve by force what could not be won in the ballots. 
No, not everything is falling apart in the United States. Its democracy is indeed intact and working. And this will, once more, allow it to restore its economy and reputation in the world. It will take time. But it is going to happen. 
In the midst of the worst economic crisis we've experienced in our lifetime, the most promising picture we have seen is that of President-elect Barack Obama meeting with his Republican rival, John McCain. 
Republican Party pre-election accusations that Obama was a celebrity in the same manner as Paris Hilton, or was a Socialist like Cuban leader Fidel Castro, or that a terrorist was his friend, have been left behind. And, instead of exchanging reproaches, Obama and McCain together searched -- and are searching -- for solutions to the enormous challenges facing the United States. 
The system works. Even in the very close presidential election of 2000 -- which finally was decided in a very controversial manner by the Supreme Court -- Democrat Al Gore publicly acknowledged his defeat in the race against George Bush. That is acceptance of the rules of the game. Even if it hurts. Before and after. 
The same cannot be said of Venezuela, Nicaragua or Mexico. 
First Venezuela. Leaving aside the outcome of the mayors' and governors' elections in Venezuela this last Sunday, Nov. 23, the atmosphere of threats and insults that preceded the vote does not reflect a healthy Democratic system. 
   Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez himself repeatedly tried to intimidate the opposition candidates during the political campaign, calling them "thieves" "members of the Mafia," "a real capo," "a sickening traitor," "rat," "undermining" and "fascist," among many other insults. And he threatened to send in "the armored brigade to defend the revolutionary government." What kind of democracy is that? 
I doubt very much that Chavez is willing to meet with opposition members Pablo Perez (the next governor of the state of Zulia), Antonio Ledezma (who will be the next mayor of Caracas) and Manuel Rosales (Maracaibo's next mayor), so that they can pull together to carry Venezuela forward. As a matter of a fact, Chavez wanted to arrest and jail Rosales. What's his next step? Send in the tanks to all the places his party was defeated? 
The message Venezuelan voters sent was clear: We do not want a government controlled by just one man or by one party. 
Democracy is also being stifled in Nicaragua. People have been killed or injured in the protests following the Sept. 9 municipal elections. Few Nicaraguans fully believe in the capacity and transparency of their country's Supreme Electoral Council. 
The official count suggests that the Sandinista Front (Frente Sandinista) won most of the mayoralty offices, including the capital's, but the Constitutional Liberal Party (Partido Liberal Constitucionalista) claims there was widespread electoral fraud. The opposition candidate Eduardo Montealegre refuses to accept the presumed victory of former boxer Alexis Arguello as mayor of Managua. 
This will not end well. Regardless of whoever is found to be the official winner of this electoral conflict, the decision will be disputed for years. 
"President Daniel Ortega was mistaken about me," said Montealegre in an interview via satellite from Managua. He added that he will continue to fight for the mayor's office and against the Sandinistas. 
   And this takes us to Mexico's case. Incredible as it seems, they are still feuding there over the July 2006 presidential election. The Federal Electoral Institute (Instituto Federal Electoral -- IFE) recently imposed penalties on two of the political parties for breaking electoral laws. How can you believe in an institution that takes three years to reach such a decision? What were they doing all that time? 
The matter, however, is more complex. There are millions of Mexicans who still believe the 2006 presidential election was rigged, and that Felipe Calderon is not the legitimate president. That's why the Party of the Democratic Revolution (Partido de la Revolucion Democratica) and its candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, demanded a re-count of votes. 
"The IFE, instead of being on the side of transparency and certainty by counting the packets and votes, obstructed and rejected it for legalistic reasons, through the Federal Electoral Tribunal," said filmmaker Luis Mandoki in an interview. He directed "Fraude" (Fraud), a film about that presidential election. 
But Luis Carlos Ugalde, who was the IFE's president during the 2006 elections, denies these charges. Ugalde has just written "Asi lo vivi" (The way I lived it), in which he describes, step by step, his experience in what he calls "the most contested" presidential election "in Mexico's modern history." 
"The first reason (for not counting all the votes again) is that it was never requested," said Ugalde, in an interview from Boston, where he is teaching at Harvard. "Lopez Obrador only asked us to count 16 percent of the ballot boxes, and this is an important fact. Second, he never offered any evidence of the "dirty tricks" that never existed. The idea, created by Lopez Obrador, of the existence of wholesale irregularities is false. Totally false." 
Lopez Obrador, however, doesn't give up. 
"They stole the presidency of the Republic," he assured me in an interview last April. And he still insists today that it was massive fraud that prevented him from becoming president. 
Mexico continues to be politically divided by these two positions. 
And while Mexicans, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans are still mired in their past elections and arguing about old grievances, the United States has chosen to look ahead. It has already left behind the last election. It is time for solutions, not memories. 
That is perhaps what separates countries. Some are confident of their institutions and others are not. Some accept the rules of the game and others do not. Democracies are measured not only by what happens on Election Day, but by what happens afterward. 
The most important thing in any democracy is that people trust that the winner, in reality, was the candidate that received the most votes. And that certainty does not yet exist in Mexico, Venezuela and Nicaragua. 
Some elections never end.