Written by Lilia López
The following is a brief summary of the latest news coming out of Mexico's three major political parties: the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) and Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD). This section will appear ever month from now until the July 2006 elections.
h2. PRI
Despite suffering its first defeat in over 71 years in Mexico’s 2000 presidential elections, the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) has maintained a strong presence at various levels of the national political system in the subsequent five years. Although the PRI lost most of its presence in the Federal District during midterm elections in 2003, it maintained its standing as the largest single party in both the Senate and Chamber of Deputies.
On November 15, the PRI held its national primary, electing Roberto Madrazo to represent the party in the 2006 presidential elections. Garnering over 92% of the vote, Madrazo easily defeated Everado Moreno, a little known candidate who was a late substitution for former candidate, Arturo Montiel. A much more formidable competitor, Montiel was forced to drop out of the race on October 20 amidst allegations of corruption and family finance irregularities. As a former governor of the state of Mexico and head of the powerful PRI faction, Unidad Democratic (Democratic Union) Montiel posed a significant threat to Madrazo.
Although PRI officials set up over 19,000 voting booths nationwide, several states were excluded from the electoral process. Voting was canceled in the state of Chiapas, as officials were occupied with cleanup after Hurricane Stan, and for similar reasons, polls were not opened in Quintana Roo or Yucatan which both suffered tremendous damage from last month’s Hurricane Wilma.
h2. PAN
The nomination of the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) presidential candidate was recently decided between two men; Felipe Calderón Hinojosa and Alberto Santiago Creel Miranda. Having served as President Fox’s Secretary of the Interior, Creel had the support of the president and was widely expected to take the nomination.
But after the party's third and final primary election on October 20, Calderón was selected as his party’s presidential candidate in 2006. The former Mexican Energy Secretary surprised many analysts who predicted a Creel victory, but Calderón’s campaign platform, centered on a return to the party’s conservative, Roman Catholic roots was a recipe for success, bringing him victory in all three of the PAN’s internal elections. Many analysts believe the competition between the two candidates has only exacerbated pre-existing party divisions, weakening its chances for victory in 2006.
h2. PRD
The Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) has named former Mayor of Mexico City, Andrés Mannel López Obrador as its pre-candidate for the 2006 elections. Despite a lengthy legal inquiry into an alleged illegal road-building project during his term as mayor, his popularity did not suffer, but actually increased. As a pragmatic left-winger, López Obrador is often compared to Lulu, Brazil’s moderate leftist president.
As part of his populist platform, López Obrador has pledged not to privatize the national oil industry and accuses both the PRI and PAN of contributing to the nation’s historical problems with corruption, drug-trafficking and poverty. Although a recent round of polls show López Obrador maintaining a strong lead with 31 percent of the vote, Calderon’s standing has risen in recent months to 24 percent with Madrazo and the PRI trailing at just 22 percent.
