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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | September 2006 
Calderon Vows to Build Unity
 Xinhua
| | Mexican president-elect Felipe Calderon, bottom left, speaks during his visit to Mexico's presidential residence of Los Pinos in Mexico City, Mexico, Thursday, Sept. 21, 2006, in front of members of his transition cabinet. Cabinet members are, first row from left, Juan Camilo Mourino, Josephina Vazquez, Ernesto Cordero, and Cesar Nava. Top row members are, from left: Eduardo Sojo, Gerardo Ruiz, Juan Molinar, and Max Cortazar. (AP/Gregory Bull) |
Mexico's President-elect Felipe Calderon on Saturday promised to build a unified and nonpartisan government in an effort to heal the wounds stemming from the bitterly disputed presidential elections.
Vowing to build alliances to solve pressing issues such as poverty and crime, Calderon said his goal is to "to unify our differences and together build the country that we want to share in the future."
"It is no small goal," he told members of his National Action Party in the city of Torreon, adding the goal "means trying to understand everybody, without exclusions, without prejudice."
Calderon, candidate of the ruling National Action Party, defeated Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador by a slim margin of 0.56 percent in the July 2 presidential elections.
Obrador alleged massive fraud during the electoral process and demanded a vote-by-vote recount. But Mexico's top electoral court,the Electoral Tribunal, rejected his appeal.
On Sept. 16, hundreds of thousands of supporters of Obrador elected him as "legitimate president" of a parallel government in protest against the allegedly flawed presidential elections.
Calderon is expected to takes office on Dec. 1, succeeding President Vicente Fox, also from the National Action Party.
Mexico's President-Elect Says He will Fight to Construct a Nation with Equality, Jobs, Justice
Lisa J. Adams - Associated Press
Mexican President-elect Felipe Calderon promised Thursday he would “work tirelessly” to construct a nation of equal opportunities and thanked President Vicente Fox for laying the groundwork to reach that goal.
Calderon's declarations followed his second public appearance with Fox at the presidential residence, Los Pinos, since the nation's top electoral court confirmed him as the country's new leader earlier this month.
The former energy secretary was not Fox's first choice for the job but received his blessing after he won their conservative party's primary and launched a campaign against leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. Calderon defeated Lopez Obrador by a margin of less than 0.6 percent in the July 2 election. He takes office on Dec. 1.
A “transition” team formed by Calderon advisers has met with members of Fox's Cabinet every Monday for several weeks to review both the achievements “and the principal challenges” of the republic, the president-elect said.
“I know there is a lot left to do – I am fully conscious of the goals and challenges of the country – but the advances and transformations achieved in these past six years ... will allow us to move forward over much more solid foundations in all areas of the federal government,” he said.
Fox will go down in history as the first opposition candidate to end 71 years of autocratic, one-party rule in Mexico – a champion of democracy who widened freedom of the press, opened up government files to the public, and fought government corruption.
But he was sharply criticized for lacking the political and leadership skills necessary to negotiate important national reforms with an opposition-dominated Congress.
While no party has a majority in the new Congress, Calderon's National Action Party has the most number of seats and Calderon hopes he can forge alliances needed to get reforms passed.
Lopez Obrador – who has established a symbolic “parallel government” with his supporters after refusing to acknowledge Calderon's narrow victory – claims Fox's policies have widened the already large gap between the rich and poor. He says the president governed on behalf of the rich and private industry, and that Calderon will do the same.
Lopez Obrador's motto campaign motto was “For the Good of All, But First the Poor.”
His leftist Democratic Revolution Party, which last weekend elected him “legitimate president” of the shadow government, initiated another round of civil resistance Thursday with protests in front of the offices of the national Televisa television network. The demonstrators accuse the network of broadcasting coverage in favor of Calderon while ignoring their point of view.
Lacking a mandate, and faced with his rival's still-strong popularity, Calderon has vowed to beat the former Mexico City mayor at his own game and implement social policies aimed at helping the poor.
“We will work tirelessly to generate and strengthen the conditions that make Mexico a country equal in opportunities, with well-paid jobs and an environment free of violence and insecurity,” the 44-year-old lawyer and former congressman said Thursday.
Reaching out to the millions of people who did not vote for him, Calderon added that “the key to forming a national agenda is to know different points of view, to find common ground, and address the various economic, social and political concerns of a Mexico that demands solutions beyond our differences.”
Looking stiff and uncomfortable following their first meeting, the 6-foot-5 Fox and his much shorter successor appeared to be more at ease Thursday as they strolled together down a walkway on the grounds of Los Pinos after their joint news conference.
Also Thursday, telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim, Latin America's richest man and the third-wealthiest in the world, was quoted by Mexican news media as saying that he supports some of Calderon's proposals, including plans to generate employment as a way to combat poverty.
On the other hand, Slim lamented that supporters of Lopez Obrador were becoming more radical, summing up their action as “Mexican craziness and Kafkian.” |
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