A campaign for a null vote might be the most important issue in Mexico's July 5 mid-term elections, because existing party campaigns that focused on technical issues have failed to mobilize the public, a leading political expert said on Thursday.

"The debate has mostly been about Federal Electoral Agency (IFE) rules," said Federico Estevez, a political science professor at the Mexico Autonomous Technical Institute (ITAM), adding "The null vote campaign has filled the gap."

In recent weeks, major political figures have called on citizens to spoil their votes to show their dissatisfaction with the party system. These figures include Dulce Maria Suari, former president of the Institutional Revolution Party (PRI) which had ran Mexico for 71 years until 2000, and Denise Dresser, an active political commentator.

Mexican elections usually generate around 2.5 percent of null votes, a figure that is normally attributed to ignorance of how the voting system works. The null vote campaign might have been considered to have an effect if it generates a null vote of more than 5 percent.

"According to surveys, those who plan to annul their vote are mostly young, urban and college educated," he said, adding "Previously they have mostly voted for the Revolutionary Democratic Party and ruling National Action Party," which had historically opposed the PRI's monopoly rule.

A big number of null votes might spur vote-hungry opposition parties to reform, Estevez argued.

The campaign "would need some kind of organization which could become some kind of proto-party," he said.

Source: Xinhua