AMLO leaves the PRD

After years of threats and campaigning for other parties, finally AMLO took the logical step of leaving the PRD. The reason? The fact that his supporters lost the vote in the PRD's national council this weekend, when the party voted in favor of holding a referendum to ask its members whether to go in alliance with the PAN in Mexico State, or not.

Nor this time is the rupture - or rapture - complete, however. AMLO had long threatened to pedir licencia, or ask for a "leave of absence," disregarding, to be sure, that no such mechanism exist within the PRD or any other party: Either you are a member of the party, or you are not.

Be that as it may: The reason for AMLO's departure speaks volumes. You lose the vote, and you leave. And not only this: You lose a vote on whether to hold a vote among party members and solicit their opinions - AMLO had opposed holding such a referendum.

Mas claro que el agua no puede ser.

AMLO made the announcement in a meeting in Texcoco, where he was campaigning for Alejandro Encinas. Yet the decision appears to have caught the latter somewhat unawares, as Encinas seemed unsure of how to respond:

"A resolution such as the one that is raised before me goes far beyond the realm of personal decisions, as it involves a decision to break with the PRD and move toward a scenario of two candidates and two different projects in 2012."

Indeed it does. For the sake of PRD and the left, one can only hope that Encinas, upon this realization, will choose not to help this worst-case scenario come true.