 |
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | March 2006 
"Indestructible" Leftist Challenges Mexico's Big Two
 Noel Randewich - Reuters
| | A group of religious women before submitting their votes in Metepec, Mexico, Sunday, March 12, 2006. Mexico's political parties faced a key test Sunday, less than four months before the July 2 presidential vote, as they battled in local elections for the country's most populous state. (AP/Mario Vazquez de la Torre) |
Ecatepec, Mexico - The leftist candidate leading Mexico's presidential race on Sunday brushed off growing criticism that he is a populist ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, saying he was "politically indestructible."
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who leads opinion polls by up to 9 percentage points, responded to his rivals' criticism as his party took on the ruling establishment in a local election in the country's most populous state.
President Vicente's Fox's conservative party accused Lopez Obrador on Friday of illegally receiving aid from U.S. foe Chavez. The leftist's party strongly denies that.
Former Mexican President Carlos Salinas warned against populism, in an apparent attack on the left-wing candidate.
Lopez Obrador, who promises to give priority to Mexico's poor if he wins the July 2 election, was unfazed.
"They can't touch us. When you have ideals, when you are not moved by ambition, power or money you are politically invulnerable," the former mayor told a rally in the southern, sugar-producing town of Cuautla.
"I don't want to say you are indestructible because they'll start questioning that but why not say politically indestructible?"
Lopez Obrador's bitter foe Salinas, who ruled Mexico from 1988-94, said in a speech in the United States at the weekend that Latin America should be wary of populist "strongmen".
Rhetoric has grown in the past few weeks as opponents Felipe Calderon from the ruling National Action Party, or PAN, and Roberto Madrazo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, see the left's opinion poll lead narrowing slightly.
DISILLUSIONED
Lopez Obrador's Party of the Democratic Revolution went for a morale-boosting victory over the two other parties in elections for mayors and local deputies in the key State of Mexico on Sunday.
As in much of the country, Lopez Obrador's party is the third force in the state, a U-shaped swathe of suburbs, rust-belt towns and rural land around Mexico City.
But many are disillusioned at corruption by the PRI, which has ruled the state for decades. It holds more than half the 125 municipalities and dominates state Congress.
Previous governor Arturo Montiel, a one-time PRI presidential contender, is under investigation for illicit enrichment after newspapers accused him of owning a string of expensive homes in Mexico, Paris and Spain.
"We have seen the PRI's corruption for years. We now want a change," Rene Espindola, a hardware merchant, said in the gritty satellite town of Ecatepec.
It is Mexico's last big election before the presidential poll.
Fox's PAN is strong in posh residential districts and blue-collar areas of the State of Mexico.
It controls some of the largest municipalities in the state such as Tlalnepantla, an industrial powerhouse.
But Fox's federal government has not carried out promises to create millions of jobs and strong economic growth. Lopez Obrador's leftists say the time is now right to give them a chance both at the local and national level.
"It is their turn now," said unemployed laborer Armando Pulido, 43, in a poor neighborhood where houses are perched on a dusty hillside lacking piped water.
The two other parties are generally better organized and richer than Lopez Obrador's PRD. He says he lacks money for the kind of expensive media advertising campaigns his rivals have started to roll out.
PRD Makes Good Showing in Local Elections
Gloria Perez - Associated Press
Toluca, Mexico - Mexico's largest leftist party appeared headed toward a surprisingly strong showing Sunday in local elections in the country's most populous state. The race is seen as a key test of party forces less than four months before presidential elections.
The Democratic Revolution Party had received almost 31 percent of votes for the 75 legislative seats in Mexico state, according to preliminary counts with about 21 percent of votes tallied. The PRD, as it is known by its Spanish acronym, has long been the third-largest force in the state, which surrounds the capital.
The Institutional Revolutionary Party appeared to narrowly retain its lead, with not quite 34 percent of votes. The PRI held Mexico's presidency for 70 years until 2000, and still holds the state governorship.
The conservative National Action Party of President Vicente Fox got about 29 percent of votes.
The left sees the race as a test of whether the appeal of its front-running presidential candidate, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador - the former mayor of neighboring Mexico City - could lift the rest of the party ticket.
Mexico state loops around the west, north and east of Mexico City and most of its people live in suburbs of the nation's capital. With 14 million people, the state holds about 13 percent of the country's population.
The rapidly growing state is a sort of an electoral laboratory: it includes the capital's toniest suburbs and its most squalid slums, as well as traditional Indian farming villages and sprawling industrial parks.
Voters were also choosing 125 mayors, with the biggest prizes being Ecatepec and Nezahualcoyotl, Naucalpan and Tlalnepantla - each of which has a population approaching or surpassing 1 million.
Vote tallies indicated the PAN was leading in Naucalpan and Tlalnepantla, while the PRD appeared to be holding on to Nezahualcoyotl and was making a strong bid to take Ecatepec.
The PRI currently holds 68 mayorships, including Ecatepec, while the PAN holds 24, including Naucalpan and Tlalnepantla. The PRD holds 24, the largest being Nezahualcoyotl.
The PRI holds about 24 seats in the current legislature, the PAN has 11, and the PRD 10; the rest are independents or members of smaller parties. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us