 |
|
|
 News Around the Republic of Mexico | October 2006 
Mexican Lawmaker Optimistic about Calderón, Congress
 David Gaddis Smith - Union-Tribune
| | Lic. Eloy Cantú Segovia |
A Mexican lawmaker says President-elect Felipe Calderón knows how to work with legislators to make things happen, and for that reason thinks the Mexican Congress will accomplish more than many people think.
Sen. Eloy Cantú of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, said he served in Mexico's lower House of Congress twice with Calderón.
Cantú said although President Vicente Fox also served in Congress, he did not work well with the legislative body, which meant that many needed reforms did not get passed. Both Fox and Calderón are members of the National Action Party.
Cantú, who is from Monterrey, spoke last week at a conference titled “Democracy in Mexico: Present and Future” at the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of California San Diego.
Jesús Ortega, a leader of the Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, expressed bitterness about Andrés Manuel López Obrador's much-disputed election loss to Calderón in the July 2 election. “We are not going to give legitimacy to Felipe Calderón,” said Ortega, who was coordinator general of López Obrador's campaign.
Ortega said he thought Calderón “will be seen as an illegitimate president, like Salinas, for the ages.” In 1988, the PRI's Carlos Salinas defeated PRD founder Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas in a fraud-filled election.
Genaro Borrego, a former director of Mexico's Social Security Institute who recently left the PRI, said he was glad to see a group of PRI-istas in the Senate pushing for the re-election of legislators.
Some experts say Borrego, who once led the PRI, could be a major power broker for the Calderón administration.
Borrego said Mexico needs to take a hard look at having a presidential runoff if no candidate wins 50 percent of the vote, as happened July 2.
Arturo Sánchez of Mexico's Federal Electoral Institute said his goal was to help enact new electoral rules so that Mexico never again becomes the victim of a “perfect storm” like the one he said took place July 2. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us