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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | April 2006 
Mexican Conservative Beats Empty Chair in Debate
 Kieran Murray - Reuters
| | Mexico's presidential candidates Roberto Madrazo (L) of the Institutional Revolutionary Party and Felipe Calderon of the National Action Party stand at the start of their first televised debate in Mexico City April 25, 2006. The empty lectern on the right is for Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, who chose not to take part in the debate. (Reuters) |
Mexico City - The conservative rising star of Mexico's presidential election scored well in a first televised debate on Tuesday, gaining more ground on his leftist rival who stayed away and was represented by an empty chair.
Felipe Calderon of the ruling National Action Party, or PAN, appeared to come out ahead in some fiery exchanges with other candidates and may have given himself another boost after a recent surge in opinion polls.
The election will determine whether Mexico joins a growing number of Latin American nations moving to the political left or whether it stays firmly allied to the United States, its northern neighbor and dominant trading partner.
Calderon's main rival, leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, had for long held a strong lead but he has slumped in recent weeks and hurt himself by refusing to join the debate. An empty chair was placed where he would have stood.
Calderon took advantage, saying Lopez Obrador had nothing to offer voters and was unable to defend his policies.
"We know (he) didn't come to this debate because he doesn't have viable proposals, because the right to debate is a right of the citizens, it is your right, and even there he prefers to turn his back on you," Calderon told the television audience.
Calderon's ratings have jumped this month and he was given a major lift earlier on Tuesday when a closely-watched opinion poll showed him leading for the first time with 38 percent support and Lopez Obrador trailing with 35 percent.
Analysts said Calderon probably won more support in the debate, the first of two scheduled before the July 2 election.
"Of the four candidates, Calderon was the most solid, he had the more original ideas," said Sergio Aguayo, a prominent author and rights activist, although he said the debate was "pretty gray" and none of the four ran away with it.
A former Indian rights activist, Lopez Obrador has promised to end two decades of Washington-backed free market reforms and pump money into welfare programs and infrastructure projects.
'INDESTRUCTIBLE'
Similar policies won him huge support when he was mayor of Mexico City and he had consistently led presidential opinion polls for the last three years despite fears among business leaders that he might ruin Mexico's economic stability. Only last month, he declared he was "politically indestructible".
But that changed dramatically in the past month. Lopez Obrador lost support by squabbling with President Vicente Fox, who remains a popular figure, and Calderon rolled out a series of aggressive campaign ads against the left-winger.
Lopez Obrador insists he is still way ahead of Calderon. He opted out of the first debate, saying he wanted to stay on the campaign trail, but plans to join the next one in early June.
In his absence, Calderon traded allegations of corruption and incompetence with third-placed candidate Roberto Madrazo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mexico for seven decades before Fox toppled it at the election in 2000.
Madrazo raised a photograph of two police officers murdered and beheaded last week as evidence of what he described as the failure of President Vicente Fox's conservative government, in which Calderon served as energy minister.
"Mexico is upside down. Everything that should have gone up -- employment, salaries, competitiveness -- has gone down. And what should have gone down -- insecurity, taxes, oil prices and electricity rates -- has gone up," Madrazo said.
Calderon hit back by telling Madrazo the drugs violence that claimed more than 1,000 lives in Mexico last year "is the fruit of the corruption that your party established as an institution in Mexico for 70 years".
Two minor candidates, Patricia Mercado and Roberto Campa, tried to boost their their own chances with sharp criticisms of Mexico's main parties and promises to start afresh.
Despite failing to meet promises of rapid economic growth and millions of new jobs, Fox is still a popular figure. He is, however, barred under the constitution from seeking reelection.
Additional reporting by Lorraine Orlandi and Miguel Angel Gutierrez |
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