JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo says Sunday's presidential vote will be his country's cleanest and fairest election. His party, the PRI, has controlled the presidency since 1929. That could change now that some major reforms have been made in Mexico's electoral system. CNN Mexico City bureau chief Harris Whitbeck reports.</s>HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN MEXICO CITY BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): A worker polishes the brass emblem that identifies the main entrance of Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute, the autonomous body formed in 1996 to clean up the Mexican electoral system. Since then, it has spent $1 billion in the design and implementation of a vote-tallying system local and international observers alike say inspires confidence.</s>CARLOS REYNA, INTERNATIONAL OBSERVER: We are really very well impressed by all the explanations they have given to us about, which are all the details of this process.</s>WHITBECK: At the heart of the system, a sophisticated network of 4,000 computers that will be used to quickly count the votes of nearly 60 million voters throughout the country.</s>VICTOR GUERRA, FEDERAL ELECTORAL INSTITUTE (through translator): Since June, we have been training very hard to make sure the vote counting process is as fast and efficient as possible.</s>WHITBECK: And efforts have been made to prevent fraud before the votes are even cast. (on camera): Some candidates have complained that voters in rural areas have been subject to coercion and even vote buying. (voice-over): The electoral authorities published and distributed millions of leaflets to educate voters about their rights and obligations.</s>EMILIO ZEBADUA, ELECTORAL OFFICIAL (through translator): We are very confident that we have done all we have to do to ensure that Mexico will have a free and transparent election on July 2.</s>WHITBECK: Observers and politicians alike say this will be Mexico's cleanest election ever, the first time in 71 years voters will be assured of having a real say in the outcome. Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Mexico City.
Mexico Looks to Ensure Free and Fair Elections