Antonio Navalón
Democracy is not a problem of tastes; democracy is a problem of numbers. Amid the greatest governance revolution in living memory, being a true democrat has become a real challenge. Wherever you look, you will notice the crisis of widespread faith surrounding the government systems. Wherever you look, you will see that the extraordinary, the rupture, the change, and the retirement of those in power is an increasingly important and relevant fact of life in societies.
Democracy is not good when it is limited to fulfilling some leaders’ desires and personal interests. Democracy is good when the people truly participate and choose – in a free and consensual manner – who will govern them. An efficient democratic system is one in which a single vote is capable of making a difference and in which this difference is respected and complied with, regardless of whether it means victory or defeat for the actors involved.
It has always been legitimate for each country to have the freedom to choose its own model and system of government. The same goes for soccer teams and those the technical directors select to represent their countries. What is not valid is that we limit ourselves to following and supporting governments or teams only when things are positive and meet our interests or expectations. It is possible to be a good Democrat and have lost everything. Although it may be hard to believe – and even more so in the context in which we find ourselves as a country – it is possible to have democratic harmony despite not having won the electoral contest. However, one has to recognize when a decision has been made by people who are never stupid, nor assholes, nor ignorant, and who have all the right in the world to make a mistake when choosing a specific type of government or a particular model of a country.
I never believed in polls. I admit it, and I am intoning a mea culpa. The polls were correct from what we saw last Sunday, June 2. The reiteration that there was a difference of between 20 and 30 points between one candidate and the other only proved that one thing is what many Mexicans wanted. Another is what millions of Mexicans were going to decide about the future of Mexico. It seemed incredible, but it happened.
No one can protest that the people were wrong because they have all the power and right to do so, even if they were wrong. Furthermore, even if one does not understand it and even if this, in many cases, may be a reason to leave the country, what one cannot do is question two things. First, the people of Mexico have not been deceived. The model proposed by President López Obrador has been the same since he came to power. It has not been a reformist model; it has been a rupturist model dedicated to pointing out those who – with names and surnames – for him have been responsible for the significant failure of the country. He did so for six years and continues to do so in his last months in office. For López Obrador, his data has been one of his most precious treasures and the basis for discrediting and apportioning blame for Mexico’s lack of progress and development.
Let’s assume everything goes wrong and that the 4T’s plan C means destroying the country we knew. If we make this assumption, we have to be aware that this was nothing more than the democratic choice of the people, and that was their will. Surely there will be many people who did not vote for the continuity of this regime and probably the theories about alleged electoral frauds and conspiracies will not cease, what is undeniable is that today the elected president Claudia Sheinbaum will be the first woman to lead the country. She also achieved it by surpassing something unattainable, exceeding the more than thirty million votes obtained by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Will this be good or bad? Only history will tell. What is undeniable is that the failure of an entire ruling class and an entire opposition culminated and became evident last June 2.
At this point, if there is one thing that cannot be done, it is to accuse President López Obrador of deceiving us. He was very clear from the beginning, and his intentions never left room for confusion. The problem is not what the president initially intended but what many of us did not believe would happen. Many people in the country lived the elections inside a bubble, hoping the opposition would have enough weight to confront someone who had everything clear and defined from the beginning of his term. Today, we are not only defining what will happen in Mexico for the next six years. Today, the conformation and dynamics that the country will have in the following decades are on the table and in dispute.
For better or worse, we cannot forget that what has happened is the consequence of the election and will of the Mexican people. I do not believe that it is intelligent or reasonable to question the fact that – despite the countless mistakes made or provoked – what happened was a decision made by millions. With the recounts, challenges, and adjustments to come, the composition of the Houses may or may not change, but what cannot be changed in the country’s history is that we are the consequence of our actions or lack thereof. No matter how many analyses or ways of looking at the situation we may have, we will not be able to change the fact that this election was uneven. The illegal direct or indirect intervention was clear and – without a doubt – was a crucial element in the electoral result.
Today, there is no need to complain to the politicians responsible and those who lead the different parties of the country. Today, it is time to assume our own responsibilities and do everything possible to fight for the good of our country, no matter what this may entail. If the dispute was so unfair, why did they continue the battle until the end, out of democratic respect? I don’t think so. And the fact is that, at the end of the day, what it was all about was for them to continue with their seats in the Chambers, and that is what happened. The presidents of the losing parties, who did not know how to defend their opposition points or convince their people to vote for them, will be senators or deputies in the next administration and, more importantly, will enjoy their immunity. For Mexico today, everything is confusing. But for them, everything is clear.
I believe it is fundamental and imperative that the political class, this political class, be replaced or renewed sooner rather than later. And I am not only referring to those who make up or lead the opposition parties since – except for the political exceptionality of President López Obrador – he, with all that he has inherited and has taken with him within the package of his National Regeneration Movement, also has within his ranks representatives of what for him has been the cause of the great failure of the country. One thing that has become clear with all this is that Mexico’s political class is not up to the task, nor does it understand or dimension the true reality of the country, nor does it know the most effective way to exercise power.
The time has come to bury the old political class. It is time for all those independent heroes who one day dared to defy a strong government like this one by demonstrating in El Zócalo and different parts of the country. Today, more than ever, civil organizations must step forward and not delegate the political organization that represents us to someone who, at the end of the day, was only looking for immunity.
In short, the political class that has led the country for the last 30 years is no longer in a position, nor does it have the right or morals to continue seeking to lead the government or a part of it. Second, I sincerely do not believe that some sort of technological fraud has been perpetrated. And third, in the discovery of the absence of fraud, one cannot hide, cover-up, or legalize all the politically unequal, unfair, and undemocratic elements that characterized this election campaign – the longest in the history of the world – which lasted 24 years.
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