Nayarit ironies

After increasing reports that the PAN-PRD alliance in Nayarit is coming to an end, for the time being, a time-out: The parties agreed to a new poll to determine the coalition's candidate.

It is worth nothing the irony here: PAN reportedly backed out when it failed to have PRD legislator Martha Elena García made its official candidate, in favor of also PRD legislator Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo: PAN clearly wants to go with the wife of the former governor (also with a PAN past) rather than Acosta Naranjo, a man who has never been a member of PRI or PAN, but is a founding member of the PRD with a long trajectory on the left before that.

But guess who AMLO's incondicionales want to be the candidate? Martha Elena García, the one favored by PAN, who in the end might be the party's candidate! The IDN faction, among others, who is led by the Bejarano/Padierna couple, were strong backers of García, and adamantly opposes Acosta. So much for their anti-PAN rhetoric. Martha Elena García, despite elected as a PRD legislator, is to boo not even a member of the PRD.

AMLO, to clarify, came out to throw plague on both houses, instead backing a PT-Convergencia candidate, Nayar Mayorquín, who has absolutely no chance of being elected - again showing that he could care less if the PRI will come out on top, as long as his opponents within the party don't come out on top.

Here's a useful interview with Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo.

The effects of Ley Peña: The left can't make its platform public

One tangible effect of the highly regressive electoral legislation steamrolled through the Mexico State legislature and nicknamed Ley Peña or (Governor Enrique) Peña Nieto's law:

Given that the legislation, among other things, cut drastically short the time allowed for campaigning, the PRD-PT-Convergencia coalition behind the candidacy of Alejandro Encinas, which Friday presented its campaign platform to the Mexico State electoral institute, desisted from making the platform public, out of fear of breaking the new legislation.

Encinas:

"These reforms are unfavorable not only to debate, political discussion, and the exercise of citizen rights, but also inhibit discussion and hence political participation. The intent of these reforms is to prevent the exercise of democratic participation of citizens with political parties."

Hard to disagree here.

Minor electoral reform passed in Senate

The Mexican Senate passed very watered-out, yet still notable legislation regulating Mexican elections: While the current electoral code, elevated to constitutional rank a few years back, prohibits the intervention of public officials in electoral processes (remember Fox in 2006?), there was no actual penalty for doing so - as witnessed when Calderón was deemed to have done so in 2009. The new legislation institutes economic sanctions - fines worth from ten thousand to a hundred thousand days of minimum salary.
(IFE certainly backs the reform, which would have to be passed before July in the Chamber for it to function for 2012)

Yet given that the Chamber just took a far-from-well-deserved summer break, the reform will very likely remain in the freezer for the time being.

Political Reform Dead on Arrival - or barely on life support

While it was not exactly a shocker that the Chamber of Deputies would end the current legislative session without even touching the Political Reform  recently approved in the Senate, it was all the more disappointing. This essentially ensures that even if passed at a later date - the chamber will have its four-month summer break - it will be too late for it to be implemented in time for the 2012 election.

PAN points the finger, and rightly so it appears, at Enrique Peña Nieto, whom it accuses of having blocked the reform, and demands a new extraordinary session now that the current official session is over. It's hard to believe that coming to pass.

It is a sad episode that reflects more broadly on what has been a remarkably unproductive legislative session, or indeed legislature in general. Milenio revealed recently that Calderón has achieved an even lower approval rate of his legislative initiatives than Fox - 66 percent vs. 75 percent. From Dec. 2000-April 2005, 105/139 of Fox' proposals were approved; from Dec. 2006-today, 72 out of 109. A direct comparison is admittedly tricky as it says nothing of the actual content or magnitude of the legislation passed, but it is nonetheless an interesting statistic - especially if we keep in mind that Calderón at first enjoyed PAN majorities in both houses.