PAN pushes to nullify gubernatorial election after court win
2011-12-29
Posted by: badanov
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By Chris Covert
A televised boxing match and a four minute sound bite of a mayoral candidate were sufficient determining factors in overturning a municipal election in Morelia, Michoacan, said a court, according to Mexican news accounts.
The Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federacion (TEPJF) or federal electoral tribunal ruled that ten of fourteen issues raised by Partido Accion Nacional (PAN) surrounding the election of Morelia, Michoacan mayor Wilfrido Lazaro, a Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) candidate, violated Article 41 of the Mexican constitution. The court set aside the results of the contest, and ordered a new election within six months.
Amongst those issue was the November 12th televised boxing match between Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao where Juan Manuel Marquez wore boxing shorts emblazoned with the PRI tricolor logo, shown the day before election day.
Another major issue was a local TV news broadcast which featured Sr. Wilfrido Lazaro speaking for almost five minutes.
Santiago Nieto, a judge on the TEPJF panel said the court could not quantify the impact of the two major events as to the impact on the election; only that taken together, those and eight other issues were sufficient to overturn the election.
The ruling only affects Morelia, Michoacan city council and mayoral elections.
The elections in Michoacan, erroneously seen by international press as a bellwether for PRI plans to return to the presidency, were at least one reason for the resignation of Humberto Moreira.
Moreira as governor of Coabhuila -- a post he resigned to become president of PRI -- has been enmeshed in an illegal debt scandal which ballooned Coahuila's state debt to the highest per capita in Mexico.
The results of the election, -- a PRI governor of Michoacan elected by less than 50,000 votes and the failure of PRI to outright capture the state chamber of deputies -- if they were the commonly held bellwether, would more likely foretell an electoral disaster for PRI in 2012.
The court ruling does little to help PRI's plans, and it seems to be a minor victory for PAN. So far, the ruling does not affect the local deputy election or even vote count on the governor's election, but a PAN leader, Juan Molinar, has said he will press to change that and requested the court to set aside the Michoacan gubernatorial election as well.
Mexican elections from city council to the president are tightly controlled and regulated. Every aspect from total bans on "black campaigns" or negative campaigns to limits on the money to be spent are spelled out at least six months before a contest even begins.
PAN party leaders have been fighting hard to reverse literally years of political attacks against PAN president Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, which are currently yielding positive results for PRI and their candidate Enrique Pena Nieto, so much so, PRI's return to Los Pinos is all but assured.
One of the outcomes to near constant PAN attacks against Moreira has been severely blunting PRI plans for a last big win in 2011 before the 2012 presidential elections. PRI since 2010 had won stunning wins at the municipal and statehouse elections, particularly in Mexico state, where voters went PRI for governor by nearly three to one over the nearest rival this past summer.
Results in Coauiula were nearly as bad for PAN.
Clearly, PAN president Gustavo Madero sought to reverse the damage, and Moreira and his legacy of debt acquired through fraud was an obvious target.
The Michoacan election were important to all three major parties, PRI, PAN and Partido Revolucion Democratica (PRD) enough for the leaders to temporarily take up residence in the state. Many in the national and international press had prior to the election, called the contest a test for the PRI for 2012, rather than a test of Moreira.
Once the sheen from expectations in Michoacan had worn off opponents of Moreira inside and outside PRI were calling even more intensely than before for his resignation. Moreira was even facing a severe revolt from some elements of his party for his heavyhandedness in ramming through coalitions with two other minor political parties.
Madero needed Moreira to remain as head of PRI as Moreira was a high profile and cost free means of blunting PRI momentum. Until December 2nd, Moreira appeared all too willing to oblige Sr. Madero.
Then Moreira resigned.
The elections in Michoacan, rather than setting a template for PRI's increasing power, has instead shown the kind of dogfight Mexican voters can expect in 2012.
The pair of pretty faces PRI is showing to the nation in the visages of Nieto and his actress wife, Angelica Rivera, -- the exemplar of a Mexican yuppie marriage -- may not be enough to return PRI to Los Pinos.