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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | July 2005 
Two New Parties Approved by IFE
 Arturo Zárate - El Universal
| | "Vote!" by Raul Anguiano. Federal District Electoral Institute Get-out-the-vote campaign poster. |
The Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) unanimously approved two new parties to compete in the 2006 presidential elections on Thursday: the New Alliance and the Social Democratic and Farmer Alternative.
The new parties will have to capture at least 2 percent of the vote in the July 2 election to continue to be classified as registered parties.
The New Alliance's new leader, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, denied the party has any links with Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) secretary general and teachers union leader Elba Esther Gordillo. Officials from the Labor Party (PT) and the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) have accused New Alliance of being secretly backed by the teachers union.
Gordillo has repeatedly clashed with PRI President Roberto Madrazo. The 1 million-member teachers union has traditionally been fiercely loyal to the PRI, but if Gordillo were to break away and unite with New Alliance as has been hypothesized it could be a damaging blow to the PRI.
Jiménez said the New Alliance would be happy to invite big-name politicians as presidential candidates, including former Foreign Relations Secretary Jorge Castañeda, PRD founder Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas or National Autonomous University (UNAM) Rector Juan Ramón de la Fuente. It is unclear whether the party has been in contact with any of these people.
Castañeda is trying to run as an independent, and the Supreme Court must rule on whether this is allowed. Cárdenas recently announced he will not run with the PRD in 2006, although he has not ruled out a bid with another party. De la Fuente has stated he does not wish to run for president.
The Social Democratic and Farmer's Alternative is associated with Patricia Mercado, who headed the Mexico Possible party that dissolved after a poor showing in the 2003 elections. |
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