Mexican Elections Forthcoming
There are currently two major parties in Mexico:
- The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI, as its initials are spelled when written out in Spanish), held long-term power in Mexico for 71 years until 2000. (PRI is pronounced “Pree.’)
- The National Action Party (PAN, as abbreviated in Spanish) is the party of the current President, Felipe Calderon, who has held office since 2006. (PAN is pronounced “Pahn”.) Previous President Vicente Fox (2000-2006), was the first PAN presidential candidate to break the PRI institutional grip on the office since 1929. Fox held office for one, 6-year-term.
Current President Calderon
Some of the biggest issues thus far have been drug-trafficking, organized crime, and drug violence. This is a first in Mexican society, which has preferred to keep this on the back burner and not addressed so overtly. The PAN party is claiming moral superiority on this issue because, since 2006, Calderon’s PAN party has exponentially stepped up pressure on drug cartels. In a controversial move, Calderon also gave police powers to the military, in order to have them fight corruption in local police departments. Calderon and PAN are running ads featuring a popular wrestler named “Mistico” telling voters that “the president and the PAN are giving it their all, and we have to support them.” Mexican election officials are stepping up enforcement of campaign finance laws to make sure the drug cartels are not illegally influencing the election: they are doing random checks of campaign records, investigating anything suspicious.
This could backfire against PAN, however, because some Mexicans are tiring of the bloody violence that comes from the increased pressure on drug cartels. Since Carderon took office in 2006, more than 10,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence.
Economic recession is another major issue in the election. Like most countries in the world, Mexico has been hit by the worldwide recession, and PAN has certainly been hurt by this. Some political analysts predict the Mexican economy will shrink by more than 8% this year, the worst drop since the Great Depression.
Swine flu is another issue. While one would expect PAN to have been hurt by the swine flu issue, thus far, they appear to have emerged unscathed. Still, the swine flu has severely affected tourism for both vacations and medical procedures, as Americans and other world travelers opt to spend these dollars (yen, etc.) elsewhere.
To add one last interesting twist, former presidential candidate López Obrador, from a third party called the Democratic Revolution Party or, PRD), called on June 9 for a national boycott of the election. He was joined by business groups, university professors, and former politicians who asked Mexicans to cast a blank ballot marked simply with an “X”. He says the election will only benefit the two major parties, PRI and PAN. “Voting for the least bad candidate is like buying the least rotten fruit,” says Jose Antonio Crespo, a well-known historian backing the movement. “I prefer to leave a note saying, ‘Hey. All your fruit is rotten. I’ll come back next time and I hope you have something fresh and edible.’” 1
For its part, the Catholic Church in Mexico has publicly rejected this movement, calling it “stupidity” and “irresponsible.” Some even wonder if the PRI is behind it, because a low turn-out would most likely help their candidates.
Stay tuned to the comments section for a review of what happens after the election, but, in the meantime, now you know the major players and the major issues!
Read on:
Yahoo! News – Once hush-hush, drug war plays big in Mexico vote
Angus-Reid.com – PAN Trails PRI Ahead Mexican Election
Time.com – Mexico’s Election Rebellion: Just Vote No
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Great summary. Thanks for the information. I’ll be interested to see what happens on the 5th!