Wood: Culture of democracy In Mexico is alive and kicking

It was a terrific opportunity yesterday to observe Mexican democracy in action. And, I have to say that the INE (Instituto Nacional Electoral) did an incredible job. They did an incredible job of organizing the election. I would say more importantly than that, of working with Mexican civil society, and by civil society I do not mean NGOs (non-government organizations. I mean the people on the street who organized themselves to run the polling stations. The INE work hand in hand with them in terms of the training, providing them with the resources they need to actually execute a very well-run, fair, free, transparent election. I had the opportunity to travel around the southern part of Mexico City yesterday, visiting five different polling stations. I was there for the rapid count in one of them and it is an extraordinarily simple process but it is one that works very, very well. One of the biggest takeaways of this election is democracy does work in Mexico. I know that a lot of people have had doubts about the future of democracy. It is alive and well. The INE did a great job, as I said, but Mexican civic culture, the culture of democracy is alive and kicking. And there is great pride on the part of the Mexican people in their own elections. And a large part of that comes from the fact that they are so intimately involved in it. Editor's Note: Go to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service's website to see the full commentary from Duncan Wood, vice president for strategy and new initiatives; senior advisor to the Mexico Institute. Wood made his remarks on a  Mexico Institute webinar titled Ground Truth Briefing - Mexico’s Mid-Term Elections. Wood was in Mexico as an official elections observer for the mid-term elections. The attached podcast features the webinar.Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.