The Green Party lies through its teeth; Octavio Germán Olivares: Peña Nieto's Law to Supreme Court

Octavio Germán Olivares, leader of PAN in Mexico State, announced that as soon as what has been dubbed by many actors as "Peña Nieto's Law" (the recent initiative to block alliances in Mexico State and to cut short the time allowed for campaigning, both explicitly favoring the current governor) is published in the Gaceta General de Gobierno and thus made state law, PAN will take the legislation to the Mexican Supreme Court. So will Convergencia - quite ironically, though, as its Mexico State delegation is in the hands of Peña Nieto and backed the law.

The rush with which the PRI machinery has been pushing and passing this law is simply stunning. The law was introduced into congress by PVEM deputy Adrián Fuente, rushed through commissions, and then voted on the floor, all within days. Now, mere hours after having been approved, the legislation was sent out to Mexico State's 125 municipalities, 63 of which need to approve it, which will not be a problem given that PRI-PVEM who ran together in alliance just last year, as well as with a few other allied minor parties, control 97 of them. Expect them to be rushed back well in time for Oct. 5, which is the absolute deadline for ratifying them.
Given the paralysis and delay of reforms that pervades in many legislatures, this level of "fast-track," as La Jornada deems it, is simply stunning.

Peña Nieto, for his part, though he has sheepishly denied having anything to do with the legislation, stated that he backs the reform as the electorate is "confused" by political alliances.

Yet the price for cynicism  - or, outright stupidity - goes to Arturo Escobar, PVEM's national secretary of electoral affairs, no less, who denies that the PVEM is running Peña Nieto's errand by falsely arguing that the Mexico State electoral law will now simply be harmonized with federal law. This is quite a riot: Federal electoral law just went the opposite direction: Following the 2007 Electoral Reform, parties can still run in a coalition but will now have to run on their own weight and own label rather than just on a common coalition label. For instance, while PRD negotiated in advance with PT and Convergencia on the numbers of legislators these parities would receive in return for running on a common platform with the PRD behind the 2006 candidacy of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, they will, on the federal level, now have to run on separate legislative lists, carrying their own weight. The PVEM is thus shockingly unfamiliar with Mexican electoral law, or, worse and more plausible still, simply lies through its teeth, hoping not to get caught.

And the kicker: Guess what party voted against the 2007 Federal Electoral Reform? Yes... The Green Party!

Recommended read on Oaxaca "neo-patrimonialism"

I just wanted to draw attention to an excellent analysis on Oaxacan politics and the concept of "neo-patrimonialism by Julian Durazo-Herrmann, of Université du Québec à Montréal."Neo-Patrimonialism and Subnational Authoritarianism in Mexico. The Case of Oaxaca" offers a wonderfully succinct and well-written (a rarity in academic works) summary and analysis of recent political history in the Mexican state of Oaxaca, and the author applies and further develops the concept of "neo-patrimonialism" as an analyical tool to explain Oaxaca's trajectory. 

Despite Mexico's 2000 transition on the national level, authoritarianism remained, and even deepened, in several of Mexico's states.  Durazo-Herrmann argues, 

"In many cases, however, neo-patrimonial elites can adjust, adopting formally democratic reforms while continuing to pursue authoritarian practices, at least over some aspects of the subnational political system (Gervasoni 2010 in this issue). This long and ambiguous process of political adaptation and restructuring is known as hybridization and allows for – and serves to legitimize – the coexistence of formally democratic political institutions with authoritarian practices." (p. 88)

While Oaxaca's distinct social make-up has provided fertile breeding ground for neo-patrimonialism, the concept should be applicable to several more of particularly Mexico's southern states, though Oaxaca may represent the textbook case. While its "neo-patrimonial domination system" remained up until the present, the 2010 victory of Gabino Cué may well signal the beginning of the end - or the end of the beginning of the end - of this authoritarian practice. 


The paper is published in the new excellent journal Journal of Politics in Latin America, which is, unlike most high-quality academic journals available entirely for free. It is well worth your time.