IRI Launches Youth Mobilization Training

January 28, 2005

In Mexico’s 2000 presidential and national elections, the youth vote significantly contributed to the victory of the Mexican National Action Party’s (PAN) presidential candidate, Vicente Fox. Recognizing this, PAN’s Accion Juvenil – the party’s youth organization, has asked IRI to provide training on youth vote mobilization in preparation for the 2006 presidential elections.

IRI sponsored a training event with the Accion Juvenil where Michael May, legislative assistant to Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), discussed get-out-the-vote initiatives used in the U.S. to mobilize young voters. The presentations detailed examples of successful youth initiatives carried out in the U.S. Participants included 150 young political activists. By the end of the training, they identified youth mobilization methods currently used in Mexico, as well as new ones they plan to implement. The training also provided a description of the American electoral system and the organizational structures of U.S. political organizations.

PAN and IRI have developed a work plan to do follow-up training and work with the youth as they approach the 2006 presidential elections. IRI is in the process of developing similar initiatives with other Mexican political parties, including the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD).

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