The unofficial launch of Marcelo Ebrard's campaign took place yesterday, as the Demócratas de Izquierda, or the Democrats of the Left, arranged an event attended by more than 2,500 people that included the governors of Sinaloa and Guerrero, as well as as a range of backers and politicians, many from outside the PRD.
Ebrard proclaimed in very general terms the contours of his national plan, but was at pains to explain it was not a campaign launch- which of course it was. Notably, he also appeared to call for some variant of parliamentarism - or "to separate the chief of state from chief of government" - which to me is an absolutely marvelous idea, as long as it does not end in a semi-presidential regime.
What a perfect illustration of the two paths for the left to follow: On the one hand, Ebrard and the coalition of social-democratic party factions in the Demócratas - and on the other, the highly discredited René Bejarano and his clientelistic "movement," who after holding meetings all over Mexico went to Tabasco the same day to back AMLO's electoral project.
Bejarano claims to have more than two million people in his National Movement of Hope, which he offers in order to back AMLO's candidacy (though at the same time confirming that many of them are also members of AMLO's own movement MORENA).
His wife, Dolores Padierna, is head of the IDN party faction of the PRD - involved in virtually every one of PRD's scandals the past decade - which backs AMLO. She is, to add, the secretary general of the PRD, while party president Jesús Zambrano is the president of the party - and attended Ebrard's event.
The two paths for the Mexican left have never appeared more clear.
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