Monday, September 27, 2010

AMLO's supporters physically blocks the PRD from reaching 2/3 majority in favor of alliances

Another farce. This is in the simplest terms what happened: Just as the PRD state council was inching toward an overwhelming majority vote in the PRD mexiquense or Mexico State party branch in a vote over whether to join in an alliance with the PAN,  AMLO's supporters decided to take the council directorate by force to stop the vote count when it was inching close to a whopping 2/3 majority in favor of the alliances. Ahain, AMLO's supporters, in Mexico State represented by the corrientes or party factions Izquierda Democrática Nacional (IDN), Grupo de Acción Política (GAP) and Unión de Izquierdas (Unir), demonstrated they have no intention of accepting the result of any vote they do not win. The andresmanuelistas resorted to direct action - physical force - when the vote reached 168-86, or just one vote short of a 2/3 majority.

As the votes were counted and it was clear that a majority of the PRD's state council favored an alliance with PAN in order to beat the PRI, AMLO's supporters protested and demanded the state council should rather vote with a 2/3 majority. While this has been standard practice in the national council, it is not stipulated that the state councils also have to vote with a 2/3 majority. Even so, the pro-alliance forces, above all the factions Nueva Izquierda (NI) and  Alianza Democrática Nacional (ADN), gathered a surprisingly high number of votes: the count had reached 168 in favor to 86 in against, or just one vote right short of a 2/3 majority. AMLO's supporters then proceeded to storm and "take" the speaker dais, effectively blocking the vote, and a fistfight ensued. The state leadership declared a 15 day recess.

(It's rather remarkable to read the same news event covered in La Jornada, which these days has absolutely no shame when it comes to twisting the facts in favor of AMLO; in their coverage, PRD "suspended the council after the corrientes ADN and NI didn't reach the necessary votes to approve the resolution that would permit the PRD to ally with PAN." It's a pity that La Jornada's activism has become of such a degree that it is increasingly useless as a news source to cover PRD and AMLO events.)

So the issue will unfortunately not be settled yet. AMLO continues to hurl accusations that the PRD has fallen under President Felipe Calderón's spell, and threatens to postulate his own candidate should the PRD and PAN run a common gubernatorial candidate. To recall: in 2005, AMLO campaigned incessantly for the PRD-candidate, a non-party businesswoman forced upon the party by AMLO, who moreover rode roughshod over the state PRD organization and instead preferred using his own paid Redes Ciudadanas, or paid canvassers directly loyal to him. Even when the state PRD backed the candidate, Yeidckol Polevnsky, she barely pulled 22% of the votes. Whether he truly believes that an "independent" candidate promoted by him would do better in 2011 is a moot question; he will go to any lengths to sabotage the official PRD as long as they do not blindly follows his will. In AMLO's words, should the state council approve the alliance, they will remain only with "shell":
"If the PRD leaders have not dignity, we are going to show them that those from below, the militants and sympathizers, we don't want a pact with the PAN."
To hell with any democratic votes within the party itself, to hell with respecting PRD's organs and institutional processes: AMLO will take his followers and go. And Enrique Peña Nieto will be smiling ever broader.

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