While Ebrard is walking carefully not to step on the toes of the current PRD leadership of Jésus Ortega and his social-democratic Nueva Izquierda faction, the Mexico City mayor expressed support for Lázaro Cárdenas Batel as new PRD president when Ortega steps down in March 2011.
A few quick comments:
1) Cárdenas Batel is hardly a controversial choice, and Ebrard says he expects AMLO to back him as well. I doubt this - AMLO will reject anyone he cannot control, and moreover has poor relations with his one-time mentor Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, Lázaro's father. AMLO's candidate has long been Dolores Padierna; he will only support Làzaro if the latter explicitly opposes the PAN-PRD alliances.
2) Ortega was elected March 2008 yet due to the disastrous internal election, had to wait until the end of 2008 to take up office. Stepping down in March 2011is a concession, but Ortega also wants to avoid yet another ruinous internal party fight so close to the 2012 presidential elections
3) Because of this, it is crucial that no mass-election by the party base is held to elect PRD's new president. Every one of these elections has been a disaster; the PRD should follow PAN's example and elected the president through a vote by the national council of the party, which has in turn been elected by the party base. Alternatively - and a better alternative yet - is for Lázaro to become a "unity" candidate, which is what PRI is doing, and what Ebrard is seemingly eager to achieve. This would involve quite few concessions to many groups involved, but is a viable option, which include Cuauhtémoc dropping his 2012 ambitions and instead aiming for Lázaro in 2018.
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