Will dirty tricks have role in Mexico's presidential election?

latimes.com: A drug war is raging, a party once known for brazen vote-rigging has a telegenic front-runner, and all parties now offer voters perks — but election officials say they are 'armored against fraud.'
MEXICO CITY — Sunday's presidential election represents a difficult test for Mexico's wobbly democracy: Can it hold a fraud-free national vote in the midst of a raging drug war?

The country's top election official conceded recently that violence in parts of the country prevented election officials from completing some preparations.

But the official, Leonardo Valdes, insisted that safeguards are firmly in place to prevent the kind of brazen electoral fraud once notorious in Mexico. And, he said, most of the strong-arming, threats and payoffs by drug traffickers remain limited to local politics and less influential in the national race. Read more.