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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | August 2005 
Court Rules Against Independent Bid
 Wires Services
| | Under Mexican law, no individual citizen can run for the presidency if they are not aligned to a registered party. |
The Supreme Court ruled this week against an appeal by former foreign secretary Jorge Castañeda, who had sought authorization to run in the country's 2006 presidential race without the endorsement of any of the nation's six registered parties.
The court ruled in a 6-4 vote that individual citizens cannot file such constitutional appeals against election laws, which allow only candidates nominated by a registered party. It left open the possibility that a government agency could file such an appeal.
The ruling essentially put an end to Castañeda's quixotic bid to run as an independent; he is also reportedly courting Convergencia, one of the country's three small registered parties, to gain its nomination.
While the court must still rule on another, technical part of Castañeda's appeal, Justice Sergio Valls said there was relatively little chance that Castañeda could make it on the ballot.
"I think the chances are very limited," Valls told reporters after the ruling.
For about a year, Castañeda has run a low-budget, barnstorming effort to gain independent status. While he criticizes the party establishment, he is not exactly a political outsider.
Only two years ago, Castañeda served on President Vicente Fox's Cabinet, where he shook up relations with Cuba and reached for a major migration accord with the United States an elusive goal in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. His father held the foreign secretary job long before him.
Castañeda's prickly personality won him headlines and some resentment among the national press. |
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