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 Vallarta Living | July 2006 
Viviendo en México - Presidential Elections
 Korah Winn - PVNN
| | Mexico is poised to enter a period of more prosperity but guidance is going to be a key factor in seeing that come to completion. |
Last Sunday, on July 2nd, Mexico had their presidential elections. The Mexican government is set up very similar to the United States in that it has a president, senators, representatives and governors. There are smaller issues, though, where it differs from the United States.
In Mexico, the presidents are only allowed to serve one term in office. Quite a while back, it was decided that re-elections were not in the best interest of the country. I also found it interesting that a law was established prohibiting the sale of alcohol during elections.
From 12:01 p.m. on July 1st, no liquor is allowed to be sold until after elections on Sunday. Mexico does not tolerate drinking and voting. I guess this rule has been in place since after the revolution when people at cantinas were a little bit more fired-up about the elections than they are these days.
Mexico has had more than one revolution. When things settled down after the last one, the presidents could only serve one term of six years and then they were expected to move on. It is quite interesting because Mexico was ruled by one political party (PRI) for over sixty years.
The PRI party was deeply entrenched in Mexico, but as so often happens in politics, the corruption came to such an intolerable level that the people cried out that something had to be done. That brings us to Vincente Fox, the current Mexican president who has just finished his sixth year. He belongs the political party called PAN.
PAN is known for its' conservative, Catholic foundation. Fox was the first official in decades to be elected from a party other than PRI. It was a time of great excitement in Mexico because they hoped it meant steps forward in a different direction. I have respect for President Fox because I know a lot of hopes rested on his shoulders.
He did his best to meet people's expectations, but that is very difficult when you are battling to change decades of corruption. I had many Mexican friends say they felt he was not able to pull through and fulfill his promises during his six years in office.
The last main political party that was a part of this year's elections was PRD. Their candidate, Obrador, is established in Distrito Federal (D.F.) which is commonly known as Mexico City. PRD is considered the more liberal party in Mexico.
The three main candidates this year have been Obrador (PRD), Madrazo (PRI) and Calderón (PAN). Because PRI is so out of favor with the people, Madrazo did not do very well in the polls on Sunday. It was an extremely tight race though between Obrador and Calderón. It should have been announced already who the winner is, but the voting was so close that they need to recheck things. The speculation is that Calderón is going to be the next president, but this Sunday is the day it will be declared for certain.
Admittedly, I did not care about Mexican politics before moving down there. I am much more aware of what is going on now because I have friends who are affected by the choices that their administration makes. My hope is that whoever becomes the next president, that they will be wise about the direction they take Mexico.
Mexico has a lot of hardworking people and natural resources. With time, more and more companies from the U.S.A. are sending jobs down to Mexico because the employees are willing to work for less. Mexico is poised to enter a period of more prosperity but guidance is going to be a key factor in seeing that come to completion. |
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