Results of Mexican Elections
An update to the Mexican Elections post was promised, so here it is:
Well, the PRI party crushed this time. Mexican voters, largely ticked about the recession and high crime, ushered the PRI into a majority of the Mexican Congress on Sunday’s July 5 vote. The PAN party – the party of President Felipe Calderon – is now licking its wounds – and trying to push economic reforms through the Congress. It should be noted that the elections over the past weekend are considered “midterm elections” because they are held in the middle of President Calderon’s six-year term. Despite losing the majority, Calderon is still the president for three more years.
Paredes
Why economic reforms? The Mexican economy will shrink 6% this year, oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico are drying up, and millions are forced to cross into the U.S. illegally to find work. As PRI’s party leader Beatriz Paredes says, “There is a very clear mandate to find solutions to the economic crisis.”
On top of that, the peso is way, way down against the dollar, because investors worry that Calderon won’t be able to fix anything without PRI’s help, since they now hold the majority. If the peso keeps going down, credit agencies could downgrade Mexico’s credit rating and drive up the cost to borrow money. On the other hand, things could get better, because maybe PRI will want to help Calderon with his reforms with the intent of getting things in order for them before the next presidential election – in 2012.
So, if on Sunday, while eating hot dogs and celebrating the Fourth of July holiday with family and friends, you were wondering, “Hey, whatever happened to that election that was coming up in Mexico?”, well, now you know.
Read on:
CNN.com – Mexico’s ruling party loses midterm elections
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I am so glad!! 
I actually was wondering about this! I just hadn’t gotten around to looking it up yet. Thanks for the update!