Mexico State Governor Enrique Peña Nieto argues AMLO is "overwhelmed" and that he is ahead of himself in terms of declaring his candidacy.
The hipocricy slaps you in the face, given Peña Nieto's excessive promotion of himself, spending tens of millions of public money to tote his "achievements" as a governor, ahead of his official declaration as a candidate, sure as hell to come next year.
Hector Tejonar, for example, has a very critical commentary in Milenio that directly deals with this subject, acusing the IFE on going soft on Peña Nieto´s self promotion.
It seems to me the criticism is excessive - the phenomenon of self promotion disguised a news is more of a loophole, and IFE doesn´t make the rules, only uphold them - but it adds fuel to the fire to AMLO, who defends his destape with the argument that three months of precampaigning is not enough given Peña Nieto´s media promotion.
(AMLO also says he will seek the PRD candidacy "when the moment comes," and that it doesn´t worry him that the PRD leadership doesn´t support him, as he has the support of the party masses.
Again, it´s important to step back and assess AMLO's modus operandi:
- The law on precampaigning I realize is only three months. Yet because Peña Nieto is using public funds to promote himself, I have no other choice, and will willingly brake the law.
- And, as noted earlier, while I promised to stick to the pact with PRD/PT/Convergencia, I just broke that too because otherwise Peña Nieto would have too much of an advantage
What is one to make of this reasoning? Is this is a man one should trust the presidency with?
Another approach might be to launch a formal and extensive complaint to IFE, and onward to TEPJF, regarding Peña Nieto´s transgressions. But what does AMLO do? The other guy is breaking the law, so why the hell should I not. And this is the man who spoke of a moral reawakening, or something of that sorts, on Sunday at the Zócalo?
PAN Senator Gustavo Madero says AMLO´s candidacy proclamation is "straining" the political environment. PRD Vice Coordinator Guadalupe Actosta Naranjo notes that should decide once and for all whether he will actually respect the outcome of the polls (as a means of choosing the left presidential candidate) or not. I couldn't agree more - but I really wonder if the highly astute Acosta Naranjo actually thinks there is any doubt that AMLO will break it, should he not be the frontrunner.
AMLO carried out all sorts of self-promotion during his term as Mexico City mayor; does anyone recall him boasting, "Cumplimos?" in ubiquitous ads? This was similar to what Peña Nieto is doing now, although, unlike AMLO, he has Televisa working on his behalf.
ReplyDeleteAs for the new campaign rules: This electoral reform was ushered in because of supposed problems in 2006 and endorsed by AMLO's people. (His people in Congress backed it and so did the DF government, although its backing was merely symbol as the DF government is not required to vote on constitutional matters.)
D,
ReplyDeleteI agree with the first part of your comment, but not the latter: While AMLO at first appeared to support the electoral reform, he abruptly changed his position and commanded the pejebancada, or his followers in Congress, to reject it, with the result that on the final vote, a substantial section of the PRD legislature group voted against it, even though the reform was largely a result of the PRD's input, and went to a great length to address the problems - real or perceived - that appeared in 2006.
I stand corrected. Thanks for the clarification! - and keep up the great blogging.
ReplyDelete