Mexico Can Get Worse

No one denies that our southern neighbor Mexico is plagued by drug cartels that pump fentanyl across our border, cronyism that smothers economic growth, and rampant corruption.

But one thing Mexico can be proud of is its National Electoral Institute (INE), an independent, nonpartisan but government-funded organization. It was formed in the 1990s as disgust with the country’s authoritarian rule and the accompanying voter fraud became so pervasive that reforms were implemented. Mexico’s transition from one-party rule to the peaceful transfer of power to an opposition party in 2000 was enabled in large part by the trust people had in the INE.

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John Fund

John Fund is National Review’s national-affairs reporter.

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No one denies that our southern neighbor Mexico is plagued by drug cartels that pump fentanyl across our border, cronyism that smothers economic growth, and rampant corruption.

But one thing Mexico can be proud of is its National Electoral Institute (INE), an independent, nonpartisan but government-funded organization. It was formed in the 1990s as disgust with the country’s authoritarian rule and the accompanying voter fraud became so pervasive that reforms were implemented. Mexico’s transition from one-party rule to the peaceful transfer of power to an opposition party in 2000 was enabled in large part by the trust people had in the INE.