PRD pays off debt from 2006 encampments

It took the Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) five years to pay off the debt the party incurred when following the exhortations of its 2006 presidential candidate to "defend" his claimed victory by setting up a huge Mexico City encampment, as well as storming the congressional dais at several locations, actions for which the PRD was fined 52 million pesos.

The PRD was left with a crippling debt thanks to this as well as a massive debt contracted by former party president Rosario Robles, which ascended to 713 million pesos by 2008. Under party president Jesús Ortega (2008-11), it drastically reduced its debt, now down to 257. The PRD also sold off a building bought by Robles (with a loss - it was uninhabitable, an a monument over Robles's disastrous party presidency), and will now move back to its historic location on Insurgentes/Monterrey 50.

IFE gave the party a 94.4 out of 100 for transparency in its expense accounts - compared to 58.3 for the PRI.

AMLO's 5-year head start: 170,000 political operators

Given AMLO's propensity for exaggeration, these figures should be taken with a pinch of salt, but given his 5-year head start - AMLO already in 2006 started the work of setting up the structure for the 2012 election - they appear accurate: His MORENA movement claims to have 34,000 electoral committees in the country, with a total of 170,000 political operators. In addition, AMLO has the support of the IDN faction of PRD, which overlaps with the "Movement for Hope" (MNE) of the discredited René Bejarano-Dolores Padierna couple.

AMLO's movement/electoral structure in turn builds on the Redes Ciudadanas, or "Citizen Networks" that operated in parallel to the three parties of his 2006 coalition.