Mexico News-Apr.11

Posted by the Generals on April 14, 2011, 11:16 pm
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NOTE: For those of you with interest in Baja Sur, the Tijuana weekly Zeta, has given regular coverage to BCS - mostly the election and the new leadership. Much of it has been documenting the stealing by the outgoing governor, which casts a shadow on the new Los Cabos mayor, his brother. The new mayor headed the water department in Los Cabos for 5 years six months, and for the life of him cannot recall anything about the 17 checks made out to the bearer and totally MN$33,000,000. How should he know where the money went or why they were cashed with no indication as to who had them - or why there is no file behind them. The new governor, from PAN, promises to end corruption and to have the Attorney General's office thoroughly reviewed for corruption and cases that were not pursued. Too bad LatinNews ignores us. LatinNews Daily - 11 April 2011 PAN to go it alone in Estado elections Development: On 9 April, the Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD)’s national council decided to cancel the proposed electoral alliance with the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) in the upcoming Estado de México gubernatorial elections. Significance: The long-awaited decision finally puts an end to the controversy surrounding the proposed alliance between the ruling (at the national level), but weakened, right-wing PAN and the left-wing PRD to unseat the main opposition Partido de la Revolución Institucional (PRI), in its political stronghold. The PRD’s decision will have immediate localised consequences for the Estado elections and more importantly on next year’s presidential election. Key points: • The decision was taken after a show of hands vote in which 99 councillors voted in favour, 77 against and 18 abstained. Thus, the required two-thirds majority to pass the initiative was not reached. Conversely, another proposal to form an alliance with other left-wing parties, Partido del Trabajo (PT) and Convergencia, was approved with 129 votes in favour, one against and 44 abstentions. The result of the vote reflects the fact that left-wing hardliners within the PRD are still more influential than the moderates. • The PRD decision will be a boon for the PRI which has already selected a candidate, given it means that it will face two separate rivals rather than a united opposition front. In contrast, the decision is a further blow to the PAN which has seen its appeal severely decrease during its two terms in office. In other gubernatorial elections, PAN-PRD alliances had successfully defeated the PRI and afforded the PAN the opportunity to deny victories to its main political rival. • Looking ahead to the 2012 presidential elections, the PRD’s decision does not bode well for the prospect of a broader PAN-PRD alliance to stop the PRI from returning to power. In addition, should the PRI successfully retain the Estado, its current powerful governor Enrique Peña Nieto would be all but set to become the PRI’s presidential candidate. Conversely, the PRD, which, given the PAN’s decline has been increasingly seen as a force to be reckoned with in the 2012 elections, is still very much divided on whether it should back the radical Andrés Manuel López Obrador, its 2006 presidential candidate who narrowly lost to President Felipe Calderón, or the popular moderate mayor of Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrard. • The PRD’s next crucial task is to select a candidate for the Estado elections. The PAN had already selected Luis Felipe Mena Bravo as its sole prospective consensus candidate awaiting the PRD’s decision. The Estado elections are scheduled for 3 July.

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