Claims of vote-buying in Mexican race

MEXICO CITY -- Political reforms in Mexico have made it harder to steal an election, officials say. But a lot of people think you can still buy one.

As voters go to the polls today to elect a new president, allegations are flying that candidates are offering money and swag while flouting campaign-spending limits. Most allegations are aimed at the old guard Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which polls say holds a big lead after being kicked out of the top office by voters 12 years ago.

The PRI held Mexico's presidency for 71 years, using vote-buying and other kinds of fraud when deemed necessary, until it was defeated in 2000 by the National Action Party, or PAN. The PRI claims to have changed, and reforms instituted since 1988 have made Mexican elections far harder to steal.

But in the latest contest, the PAN accused the PRI candidate Enrique Pena Nieto of acquiring about 9,500 prepaid gift cards worth nearly $5.2 million to give away for votes.

Pena Nieto has also been dogged by allegations that he overspent his $330 million campaign funding limit and bought favorable coverage from Mexico's television giant, Televisa.

With a double-digit lead in most polls, Pena Nieto has seldom felt the need to respond to the attacks.

But the election fraud unit of Mexico's attorney general's office says that since the campaign began March 30, it has opened investigations into 542 complaints that voters were bought off or coerced to vote for a certain candidate.

"In a country so poor, with so much inequality, there are undoubtedly forces that will try to take advantage of that," said Ricardo Becerra, coordinator of the Federal Electoral Institute's election advisers.

Mexico's more than 79 million voters will elect a president, who serves one six-year term, 500 congressional deputies and 128 senators, among other races. For president, voters will choose among Pena Nieto and his chief rivals: Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD; Josefina Vazquez Mota of the ruling National Action Party and Gabriel Quadri of the New Alliance.

The PRD and PAN, as well as the PRI, have been accused of giving out gift cards and groceries to garner votes. Technically, parties may give away anything they want, as long as they report the expense, don't exceed spending limits and don't make people feel the gift is payment for their vote.

In practice, such distinctions are not always clear.

A video posted online shows a warehouse stuffed with giveaway groceries in the Gulf Coast state of Veracruz. The PRD held a news conference Wednesday to accuse the PRI of giving away 3,000 gift cards from the Soriana department store that it said were worth about $75 each and had been distributed to voters in the State of Mexico in exchange for support.

PRI leader Pedro Joaquin Coldwell denied his party was involved in the card schemes, and has suggested that opposition party members who are far behind in the polls are crying "fraud" because they know they'll lose.