You have said if the opposition does not win by a sizable margin, you may question the results of the election.
It’s an absolute lie, as Mr. Labastida claims, that I condition my acceptance of the result on a 10-percentage-point difference. I recommend in this country where people don’t trust elections that [Labastida] win by a margin of 10 percent so people will believe [the outcome]… I trust the official electoral commission but I don’t trust [President Ernesto] Zedillo, Labastida or the PRI.
But it’s unlikely that the PRI candidate will win by a margin of 10 points.
If the election is clean, I will accept it.
How will you determine if it’s clean?
Watching and hearing the comments of those who are coming to supervise the election. Up till today it’s not very clean. Zedillo has refused to accept the recommendations of the election commission that he withdraw the advertising he’s putting on TV and radio, which is more than double what we as candidates have.
Will you win?
Polls show we have 42 to 44 percent of the vote. Labastida has between 38 to 40 percent, and Cuauhtemoc Cardenas [of the Democratic Revolutionary Party] has 15 to 17 percent. The PRI is a minority [composed of] the poor, the illiterate, the elderly. Sixty-three percent of Mexicans don’t want the PRI anymore.
How do you differ from your opponent?
[In the past], one man made all the crucial decisions in this country. We’re going to share power among the three branches of government and empower people. For the first time we will have rule of law. Zedillo’s government is corrupt. We’re going to end corruption and live by the Constitution. Zedillo has been disciplined with the economy. But [during] the last six years, we Mexicans lost 15 percent in purchasing power. The number of poor increased. You need to create jobs. You need universities and schools for everybody. We are going to double the investment in education.
How will you pay for these programs? Will you increase taxes?
We will eliminate the tax on new automobiles, which is hurting the automobile industry. We will keep the revenue tax and the sales tax… Sixty percent of people who have incomes in Mexico don’t pay taxes. We have to broaden the base of the income tax and make sure we eliminate tax evasion.
If you win, would you be interested in retaining some PRI cabinet members?
It’s possible I’ll invite a couple of ministers to stay. We are going to select the very best Mexican talent for each position. I’m not going to have Mr. Fox’s team. We’ll have members from PRI, PAN, the Ecological Party. We’ll have a unity government, but we can’t let [past] crimes go unpunished–even white-collar crime that is very common [among] members of the PRI as well as crimes like the ones committed against [Luis Donaldo] Colosio [the PRI presidential candidate who was assassinated in 1994].
Do you intend to prosecute these people?
Yes, of course. During Fobaproa [the government bank bailout in the mid-1990s], there was a lot of corruption and things were done illegally by bankers, businessmen and public functionaries. I will make sure justice is applied in Mexico.
Can you find the killer of Colosio?
It was a crime [involving] a struggle for power. I’m sure that a PRI-ista government will never solve that case. Among PRI-istas, the new president never goes after the former one–they protect each other. They’ve been doing that for 71 years.
Would you go after Zedillo?
If there is any evidence that he is not clean, yes.
Drug cartels operate here. Can you get this situation under control?
The U.S. must abolish the unilateral certification process that serves no purpose. [Every year the U.S. Congress must certify that Mexico is cooperating on drug trafficking.]
Do you fear fraud by the PRI on Election Day?
This is the greatest test–this awakening of all Mexicans. Millions of Mexicans are for change. A small number who will vote for the PRI are putting fear into the election… feeding rumors, anonymously attacking Fox and his family to the media. [There have been allegations of corruption leveled against Fox’s brothers.] This [movement] cannot be stopped–not by the old PRI or the new PRI, nor by Labastida and his dinosaurs, nor by Zedillo and his government ministries. We will see the results on July 2.
