Bribes, acts of violence, and threats to cut off access to government programs -- all of those have reappeared in this year's Mexican election.

Half of the 4,400 voters interviewed by Alianza Civica said social programs in their areas were being used to benefit supporters of political parties. The study's findings indicate that vote-buying and coercion are likely to increase this week, in the final days before the election.

There has been almost no effort to prosecute public officials for vote-buying or coercion. The Center for Higher Study of Social Anthropology, which last week re-released a report it first presented in April, recommended increasing voter education and referring cases of vote-buying to law enforcement authorities.

"In a democracy," Aguayo said, "you have to fight for democracy every day."

Actually, the same problem exists in this country. There is a long history of one party using acts of violence and intimidation, vote-buying, and access to government programs to coerce voters. In Mexico it is the socialist/communits inspired PRI -- in the US it is the Democrats.

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