PRI Victories in 2011 May Be Foregone Conclusion
2010-12-14
Posted by: badanov
by Chris Covert
The head of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), Beatriz Paredes, gave a speech in Hidalgo on Monday providing party members with a summary of electoral victories in the last four years.
State elections for 2010 were a stunning win for the PRI where PRI maintained its hold on all its seats in 10 states and swapped one with opposition parties despite a Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) president.
Outlining the totality of victories, Mrs Paredes said PRI:
- won 15 of 21 governorships.
- Majorities in 633 local councils
- Pluarities in 1001 local coiuncils.
- Pluarities in 184 of 300 federal deputies.
- Majorities in state legislatures in 23 of 31 state capitals.
The five Mexican states at issue in 2011 are Guerrero, Baja California Sur, Nayarit and the State of Mexico.
The last state, the state of Mexico, is the most troubling for opposition parties because of the passage of Peña Nieto's law in the state of Mexico last September and the confirmation of its constitutionality of the Mexican supreme court, Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nacion (SCJN), two weeks ago.
The law outlaws coalition candidates in Mexico state offices where minority parties can field common candidates against a much stronger party, such as the PRI.
In southern Mexico, several local electoral candidates from coalitions formed with PAN and Partido de la Revolución Democratica (PRD), called Convergence among other names, have frustrated local PRI candidates.
With the new law in place in Mexico, a national supreme court endorsement and only five more elections before the presidential election, a fear exists that those legislatures with PRI majorities may pass similar laws preventing inroads into PRI recent gains.
It is likely the contest in Mexico state will be seen as the bellwether for 2011.
The governor of Mexico state, Enrique Peña Nieto was the architect of the new law which outlaws coalition candidates in Mexico state, and is seen as the most likely PRI candidate for the 2012 presidential election.
Leftists and PRD politicians called the Mexican Supreme Court's endorsement of the law as a "wedding gift" to attorney Peña Nieto, who was married late last month in a widely publicized wedding with Mexican television soap opera star Angelica Rivera.
Since that time PAN politicians have been trying to come up with a strategy to counter the coming probable gains by PRI, especially in Mexico state, where PAN will be focusing its efforts in an attempt to upset Peña Nieto's political ambitions.
One of the actions PAN is considering is to ask the Mexican federal Instituto Federal Electoral (IFE) to allocate radio and television time for local elections in Mexico state.
The action potentially contravenes Mexican law. However, PAN politicians think that the time allocations the IFE is responsible for could ensure a fairer treatment of PAN candidates in Mexico state.
The calender for the election in Mexico state is:
- April 6-15: registration period.
- April 16: Campaigning begins.
- July 3rd: Election day.