Briefing

Mexico's high-stakes presidential vote: 4 questions answered

The next Mexican president will inherit a country torn by drug violence. Tackling deep-seated democratic and economic challenges is key to progress.

- Sara Miller Llana, Staff writer

Can corruption be cleaned up?

Corruption is deeply entrenched in Mexico and affects everything from its efficacy in battling violence to improving education and ultimately its growth. Examples are endless: Policemen were recently caught on tape kidnapping men in western Mexico who ended up dead the next day; a 2011 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report on Mexico shows the average household spends almost one-third of its budget on products that hail from “monopolistic or highly oligopolistic markets.”

“There needs to be a national crusade to clean up government at the federal and local levels,” says John Ackerman, a law expert at Mexico’s National Autonomous University. “This has been the real failure with Mexico’s transition to democracy.”