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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | May 2006 
Mexico Left Seeks Fox Crime Probe Over Election
 Reuters
| | Supporters of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, presidential candidate of Mexico's left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), protest in front of the headquarters of the National Action Party (PAN) in Mexico City May 15, 2006. The supporters, holding a symbolic bar of soap, called for a cleaner campaign. (Reuters/Daniel Aguilar) |
Mexico City - Mexico's main leftist party asked the attorney-general's office to investigate conservative President Vicente Fox on charges of interfering with the campaign to elect his successor on July 2.
Mexican presidents are forbidden by law from trying to influence elections, but Fox has frequently been accused by two opposition parties of promoting the candidacy of Felipe Calderon, from his National Action Party.
The leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, whose candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is lagging behind Calderon in second place in opinion polls, presented a written complaint about Fox to a department of the attorney general's office that deals with electoral crimes.
The party says Fox tried unsuccessfully to persuade two leaders of the Green party to break its electoral alliance with another opposition party and join Calderon's campaign.
Fox has not addressed the allegations directly but denies he is trying to promote Calderon, his former energy minister.
He said on Monday that he would stop broadcasting television and radio advertisements praising government public works and welfare programs, in line with an agreement with the Federal Electoral Institute regulatory body.
"I want to repeat my unfaltering commitment to the laws, institutions and values of democracy. You can be sure that I will do what I must to make sure the election results reflect the political will of the majority of Mexicans," he said in a television broadcast.
Fox, who made history by ending 71 years of one-party rule at elections in 2000, cannot run for the presidency again under Mexican law. He says he will retire to his ranch in the central state of Guanajuato when his term ends in December.
Fox Denies Meddling in Campaign
Kelly Arthur Garrett - The Herald Mexico
Under criticism for interfering with the presidential campaign, President Vicente Fox delivered a nationally televised address Monday to deflect charges from opposition parties that he´s attempting to preside over a "state election" to assure victory for his National Action Party (PAN) candidate, Felipe Calderón.
In his brief talk, the president promised to comply with a Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) "neutrality accord" prohibiting him from publicly inaugurating new federal projects as of May 23. He did not mention the charges by the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that the executive branch is trying to influence voters.
"Today I want to reiterate ... my uncompromising commitment to the laws, institutions and values of democracy," Fox said. "You can be certain I will do all that´s within my power to see that the results of this election faithfully reflect the will of the majority of Mexicans."
Even as Fox spoke, the PRI and the PRD were preparing to deliver formal complaints against him for interference in the campaigns.
The PRI suit before both the Attorney General´s Office (PGR) and the IFE alleges that the administration has diverted 1.7 billion pesos (US$151 million) in public funds to the Calderón campaign. "Fox should act as the head of state and not the head of Felipe Calderón´s campaign," said PRI party president Mariano Palacios. "We will defend the legality of the electoral process."
The PRD said it was taking its criminal complaint against 18 high-ranking state and federal officials from the PAN to the PGR´s special prosecutor for electoral crimes, knows as FEPADE. According to Ricardo Monreal, a PRD candidate for senator, between 5 and 6 million e-mails trashing PRD presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador were sent out from government computers.
The formal actions come after months of complaints, mostly from López Obrador, that Fox was openly supporting Calderón while going out of his way to belittle the PRD candidate. Since the campaign started, the president has frequently appeared at inaugurations of public works and social development projects and has run numerous media spots touting his administration´s achievements.
In speeches in Mexico and abroad, the president has repeatedly warned of "populists," a clear reference to López Obrador. Once he even urged Mexicans not to change horses in midstream, which was interpreted as a call for Calderón´s election.
"Los Pinos is trying to manage a state election," said PRD deputy and parliamentary leader Inti Muñoz Santini, referring to the presidential residence and office. "They´re taking advantage of the state apparatus, public resources and their communications systems to help the PAN candidate."
"State election," or "elección de Estado," is a reference to the 20th-century PRI practice of almost total executive branch management of national elections, from choosing the ruling party candidate to assuring his victory. As a reaction to the system, which was weakened in the 1990s and ended with Fox´s 2000 victory, laws were enacted prohibiting the president from any involvement in the campaigns.
PAN officials said the charges are exaggerated. "The chief executive has always had his own way of governing and sometimes goes a little too far with his words," said PAN Deputy Ernesto Herrera. "But in no way do his phrases qualify as a ´state election´ as carried out by past presidents. He´s always been a respectful president."
Calderón recently overcame López Obrador´s poll lead while the PRI´s Madrazo has wallowed in third place. Both opposition campaigns agree that executive branch meddling has helped Calderón and will continue to do so unless stopped.
The two have been toying with the idea of cooperating against what they see as a shared threat of a "state election;" and the candidates´ respective campaign managers - Manuel Camacho (for López Obrador) and David Penchyna (Madrazo) - have talked.
This convergence of interest between the adversaries has been played up in the press as a possible political alliance, which both parties deny. Officials from the parties spoke out on Monday to squash the notion of any alliance beyond limiting Fox´s influence.
"Our only coinciding point with the PRD is that we want an equitable election," Madrazo said in México City.
The PRD´s secretary general put it just as strongly. "There´s no such alliance," said Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo. "It´s unthinkable."
EL UNIVERSAL reporters Carlos Avilés Allende, Jorge Teherán and Jorge Ramos Pérez contributed to this story. |
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