Friday, July 29, 2011

Does PRI stand a chance in Mexico City?

There's been a few interesting articles in the press recently on the strength of PRI in the Federal District/Mexico City recently. Federal deputy and until a few months ago party president Beatriz Paredes Rangel is a likely candidate for mayor, and keeps fanning the flames that she might be a candidate again, like she was in 2006.

That time, she only came in third with barely 22 percent of the votes. Ever since, however, as El Universal reports, PRI has been growing, and the number of delegations where the party is the second largest (it runs none of Mexico City's 16 delegations, or boroughs) has risen to seven.

High-res graphic here:
From El Universal
Ever since the people of the federal district could choose their own governor - before 1997 the mayor was a "regent" appointed by the President - they have chosen PRD mayors. The PRD struggle with perennial factionalism, and so far there are at least 7 candidates who want to represent the left in the upcoming (July 1, 2012) elections. Given that some clientelistic networks led by René Arce and his brother Víctor Círigo ditched the PRD to join the PRI, if the battle to be the left candidate will be bloody, other defections may come and benefit the PRI.

Yet the PRI remains in a mess, organizationally speaking: It is two years behind in terms of choosing a new party president, and remain as well torn by internal struggles. It is nowhere near even keeping appearances of unity, as the PRI so intensely tries to on the national level. A PRI return in DF, then, even with a Peña Nieto national candidacy, I still see as unlikely.

1 comment:

  1. The PRI-DF is still linked to the garbage mafia of Cuauhtemoc Gutierrez and the ambulantes. Neither are especially well-liked.

    The PRD machine is still strong in most DF boroughs, although Arce's has a pretty solid organization in Iztapalapa - which represents 25% of the Federal District's population

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