Yaroslavsky Press Release

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June 6, 2000

YAROSLAVSKY OFF TO MEXICO TO OBSERVE HISTORIC PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION BALLOTING

Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky arrived in Mexico early today to take part in a special international delegation invited to monitor the July 2, 2000 presidential elections in Mexico.

"This is a rare privilege to witness first-hand history in the making," Yaroslavsky said. "After the success of the 1994 presidential and 1997 congressional and state elections," he added, "this year's presidential contest holds the potential for being the most open and competitive elections ever conducted in Mexico."

The observer mission is sponsored by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, an organization funded largely by the U.S. government to strengthen and promote democracy abroad.

Yaroslavsky has participated in several previous NDI efforts, including as an election observer in 1990 in Romania following the fall of dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu, and as a lecturer in various leadership training programs for local government officials in the former Soviet Union after the collapse of the Communist regime.

Yaroslavsky noted that in Mexico, NDI has been working to support a democratic electoral process for nearly a decade, assisting domestic civil organizations and the Mexican Federal Electoral Institute to review and reform election law. The NDI observer delegation in the 1994 Mexican presidential elections was the first ever permitted there.

On the group's return from Mexico, Yaroslavsky said, the delegation will announce its assessment of the election, and initiate briefings on Capitol Hill and in other sites for election officials, candidates, party leaders and local non-governmental organizations also monitoring the electoral process.

Governed by a Board of Directors chaired by former Democratic National Committee Chairman Paul G. Kirk Jr., NDI has observed more than 100 elections around the globe and is widely respected for its impartiality and professionalism. Members of the NDI Senior Advisory Committee include leading Democrats who have served as state governors, in Congress, the Senate and in several presidential administrations, such as Bill Bradley, Mario Cuomo, Christopher Dodd, Michael Dukakis, Richard Gephardt, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and many others.