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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | August 2005 
Presidential Hopeful Outlays Manifesto
 Morgan Lee - Associated Press
| | National Action Party (PAN) politician Felipe Calderón is calling for a coalition-style government and a firm hand on crime. |
Mexico City - Mexico is unlikely to give any party a majority in Congress in 2006 and will require a coalition-style government, a candidate vying for the presidential nomination of the center-right National Action Party said Tuesday.
Former Energy Secretary Felipe Calderon said he hoped for a "double play," winning the presidency with President Vicente Fox's National Action Party during July 2006 elections while watching the party secure control of Congress.
But, "reasonably, the probability that there is a divided Congress is very high," said Calderon, meeting with a small group of foreign reporters. "If this happens, my proposal is to form a coalition government."
Fox's major proposals to reform the energy sector, labor laws and the judicial system remain stalled in a legislature dominated by opposition parties, where no bloc holds a majority.
Fox is prohibited by law from running for a second six-year term, while three former members of his Cabinet are pursuing the nomination of his party, known as the PAN.
Calderon resigned as energy secretary in May 2004 after Fox criticized him for an early jump into the presidential race.
Calderon now wears his departure as a badge of independence and integrity, saying he would keep up Fox's good work on housing, strengthening free press protections and economic stability while improving their party's standing on other matters.
A former congressman and PAN president, Calderon described corruption-ridden Mexican police corps and atrophied intelligence services, saying crime reduction and public safety are at the top of his priorities.
"Criminality has taken control of many police forces because corruption was the lubricant of the old Mexican political system," Calderon said, alluding to the 71-years of uninterrupted government by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, that ended with Fox's election in 2000. Calderon said the PRI still represents complicity with corruption for him and many Mexicans.
Calderon described fundamental anti-crime and -corruption measures he favors, such as the creation of a registry for police firearms. He also said a new, firmer attitude against crime is needed in Mexico, citing Fox's failure to arrest protesters that forced their way on to the president's private ranch.
Former Mexico City Mayor Manuel Lopez Obrador - the current front-runner in the presidential race - has failed to change easygoing attitudes toward crime in the capital, in spite of efforts by business leaders, who hired the consulting firm of ex-New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Calderon said.
Lopez Obrador became popular in Mexico City through heavy spending on public works projects, pensions and other handouts for key voting blocs - programs he has proposed on a national scale.
"We would all like for all the senior citizens to have a pension," Calderon said. "How are you going to finance this? ... It looks demagogic."
He called the ex-mayor's proposal to convert Mexico's Pacific coast penal colony, Islas Marias, into a public ecological park a "Fantasy Island" proposal that did nothing to combat crime.
Calderon called for lower income taxes and a revision of taxes on goods, with more spending on education, health, infrastructure and law enforcement.
Former Interior Secretary Santiago Creel leads the PAN primary race in public opinion polls, but Calderon said he has been closing the gap before three regional primary votes in September and October. Former Environment Secretary Alberto Cardenas is also seeking the nomination.
Calderon insisted energy reform can be pushed through Congress, noting that he supports allowing more foreign investment without selling off access to Mexican reserves. Outside capital and technology are needed to tap deep-water reserves, he said.
Calderon also said he rejects coordinating oil policies with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
"I would not make an oil association with Hugo Chavez," Calderon said. "In Chavez, I do not see an example to follow, not in terms of internal democracy or in external politics." |
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