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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | May 2006 
Mexican Candidates Face Tough Questions
 E. Eduardo Castillo - Associated Press
Mexico City - "Have you smoked marijuana?" "Have you ever stolen anything?" "Have you ever lied?"
Mexico's five presidential candidates will answers these and other revealing questions as part of a series of planned interviews to be aired by MTV Latin America from May 29 to June 2.
The unusual format marks the first time that any Latin American presidential hopefuls will appear on MTV, which has shown interviews with politicians such as Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Nelson Mandela.
"In these programs, we will see the candidates in a different light," said MTV spokeswoman Dulce Gordillo. "They will come in jeans and without ties. It's a much more relaxed atmosphere and they can even laugh about some of the questions."
In a nation where two-thirds of the 103 million people are under 30, the youth vote is critical.
It tipped the balance in the last presidential election in 2000, when nearly 60 percent of 18- to 30-year-old voters picked Vicente Fox, whose victory ended seven decades of one-party rule.
The candidates for the July 2 election have all been visibly courting the youth vote: conservative Felipe Calderon of the National Action Party comparing himself to the cup-winning under-17 Mexican soccer team; Nationalist Roberto Madrazo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, posing with an electric guitar; and leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolution party holding a rock concert in the center of Mexico City.
Meanwhile, President Fox came under fire Thursday from opposition parties who said he violated Mexico's election rules during his tour of the western United States by touting a government aid program just weeks before the country's presidential vote.
It was the latest salvo against Fox by the opposition, which has repeatedly accused him of using his office to promote Calderon, his party's candidate, ahead of the July 2 election.
Under an agreement adopted in February, public officials, including the president, are banned from promoting government programs 40 days before the vote.
Before leaving for the United States, Fox said he would abide by the rule, which went into effect Tuesday.
Opposition parties, however, say the president violated it Wednesday, when he hailed his administration's Popular Insurance program, which provides health coverage for Mexico's poor.
Fox's Interior Secretary Carlos Abascal said the president was merely responding to a question and didn't violate the agreement.
The accusation comes on the heels of a formal complaint filed by the Democratic Revolution Party this week with Mexico Attorney General's office, alleging Fox has been interfering in the elections by holding private meetings with political leaders to seek their support for Calderon, who has been leading in the polls.
Associated Press writer E. Eduardo Castillo in Mexico City contributed to this report. |
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