The country's main leftist party on Monday faced the possibility of months more disarray after it threw out a disputed leadership vote held four months ago.The issue is back on the front pages of Mexico's newspapers as well.
The move leaves the Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, beset by internal division at a key moment. The party plans to lead the fight against President Felipe Calderon's proposed overhaul of the state-run oil industry and must also gear up for congressional elections next year.
Over the weekend, a PRD committee annulled the March 16 vote for party president after months of bickering between the two main contenders over who won. The panel concluded that the balloting was riddled with irregularities.
The PRD had an opportunity to make up lost ground during the recent energy debates, but none of the polls show them gaining, even as a significant portion of the country opposes Calderon's reforms. Between the AMLO post-election meltdown and this internal party disaster, the PRD has slipped back into its distant third place status.
The big winner in this whole mess is the PRI. Having taken their beatings in the 2006 election, the PRI has used the past two years to organize and position themselves as a reasonable opposition to the governing party.
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2 comments:
Boz couldn't be more right on this. The PRD has been getting the headlines but for all the wrong reasons. It appears that Calderon's reforms, as tepid as they are, are unpopular. It also seems, however, that the public isn't buying the PRD's schtick though. The PRI is coming out of this looking like an honest broker.
While it is too much to say that the PRD is disintegrating there are fissures that are developing. The party chair fight is bad enough, but the Cardenas/AMLO animosity is not going anywhere and Ebrard just said he has aspirations for 2012.
Some have hinted that PRI may peel away some of the more disaffected members of the PRD - that would secure them a strong coalition going forward.
Its interesting how the PRD is taking a page out of the Bolivia seccessionist's playbook and are holding non-sanctioned votes on the PEMEX plan. It will get trounced most places.
BTW, in researching all the corruption that has been part of PEMEX recent history (and the real source of its troubles) I learned of a Mr. Raúl Muñoz, ex head of PEMEX, who was fined and banned for 10 years from serving in public office by a Comptroller-like bureacracy called the PSF, under the control of the Executive. If it sounds familiar, it is because this is the same type of arrangement everyone is crying about in Venezuela with the "descalificados." I wonder if anyone said Mexico's judicial independence and democracy were at risk when this came down last year?
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