Millions of Mexicans living abroad will now be able to vote in the 2006 presidential elections under a bill signed into law by President Vicente Fox on Thursday. Fox signed the bill on the deadline for approval, two days after it was approved in the lower house of Congress. It provides for mail-in ballots for the estimated 11 million migrants, most of them in the United States.
By law, all changes to electoral codes must be made no less than a year before any election to be in effect. "These reforms will broaden and strengthen the democratic change Mexico is going through, and constitute an important recognition of the contribution made to Mexico's development by those who live abroad," Fox said. "Today, by signing this law, we are telling our countrymen that we are all one community, that we are all part of one nation that values and loves them."
The lower house of Congress passed the voting proposal 455-6 Tuesday with six abstentions. The bill was already approved by Mexico's Senate.
As much as 14 percent of the country's electorate lives overseas, most in the United States.
It's actually more like 1 of 6 Mexican adults live overseas in the USA
Expatriates are legally allowed to vote and hold dual citizenship, but without an absentee ballot system have been effectively barred from participating in elections. It was not clear which parties might benefit from the migrant voting in the July 2, 2006 election.
About 4 million Mexican migrants are thought to have valid registration cards. Some expatriates said the new system still excludes many potential voters — particularly undocumented immigrants in the United States who lack Mexico's voter registration card and are afraid to leave the country to get one. |