Tomorrow is election day in Mexico. Mexican voters will elect a new president, along with the entire 500-seat Camara de Diputados (like the U.S. House of Representatives) and half of the 128-seat Senate. Nine Mexican states and many municipalities, including the State of Jalisco and the municipality of Chapala, also hold elections July 2. In Jalisco, Mexican political analysts expect the gubernatorial race between Arturo Zamora of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and Emilio Gonzalez of the National Action Party (PAN) to be extremely close...too close to call. The PRI, which lost power in the last presidential election after 71 years, is still relatively powerful in the Senate and Camara de Diputados.
The two (of five) presidential candidates who are running neck-and-neck are left-leaning Andrés Manuel López Obrador (referred to as AMLO, I read somewhere) of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) and right-leaning, Felipe Calderón of the National Action Party (PAN). The race has been a see-saw between AMLO and Calderón, with Calderón recently rising in the polls. However, recent violence against teachers on strike in Oaxaca may increase support there for AMLO, who is viewed by the Bush administration as a bad actor...and who, therefore, must have some positive attributes. One website I read said: "For the first real time in decades, a pronounced left-right polarization in Mexican politics is resurfacing and rekindling long-standing divisions that were submerged somewhat during previous elections by a common focus on ousting the PRI from power. Ultra-conservative groups are reviving and updating old, anti-communist messages, casting Lopez Obrador in the same mold as Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales."
In Chapala, the race for mayor is between Gerardo Degollado, Roberto Gutierrez, Jaime Mexia, Nicolas Padilla, and Patricia Rodriguez, who is the first woman to run for mayor of Chapala (and who is affiliated with the Partido Nueva Alianza, an offshoot of the PRI). I've not read anything predicting the outcome of the mayoral election in Chapala.
1 comment:
Realistically, one would think that both the vast majority of Mexico's poor and the anti-immigration Right-wing in the U.S. would LOVE a Mexican Hugo Chavez to come to power. The Mexican poor because a much larger share of the world's 8th largest economy (the Mexican economy) would come their way. The anti-immigrant camp in the U.S. because if Mexico's poor has some hope at home, they would really rather stay there. Of course "free market" economics is great for killing hope, so if the Right wins in Mexica, rest assured that will mean even more immigrants, documented or otherwise.
Of course Obrador is no Chavez, but he was incredibly popular among the people of Mexico City (consistent 80% approval rating) among everyone below the multi-millionaire line. We'll see.
Americans for Chavez
http://www.americans-for-chavez.com
Bolivarian Circle 'Chief Tierra Blanca'
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