Front page in all main Mexican newspapers: PRI president Pedro Joaquín Coldwell announced the PRI's electoral alliance with PANAL is over.
This is very dramatic political news: It has been known for a while that grassroots discontent in PRI surged given the extremely generous terms in favor of PANAL, the party controlled by teacher union head Elba Esther Gordillo, and the PVEM, the misnamed "Green party." As for the latter, there was much criticism of the blatant nepotism from Gordillo, who wanted both her daughter and son-in-law as candidates for the senate- as well as a disproportionate number of other senate and legislative seats.
Yet crucially, as far as I can see, this means that any alliance for a common candidate for presidential election - that Gordillo would back Peña Nieto - is also over.
Coldwell, who confirmed the alliance with the PVEM (for now?), said of Gordillo and PANAL: "It is not a rupture, it is an amicable separation." That is simply not true: This is a huge political rupture.
Just a few days ago, we also learned that PRI Chiapas Senator María Elena Orantes López renounced from the PRI, after weeks of wavering, wreaking havoc on the local as well as the national party organization.
I can't wait to learn more about the background for this. Did Gordillo get a better offer from PAN? Did she push it simply too far, and PRI realized her support just cost it too much?
But the good news is, from my point of view: The 2012 race just got a lot more competitive. A lot.
I'd be pretty surprised (not that unusual of an event...) if there was a new alliance between the PAN and PANAL, especially if Josefina Vazquez is (as seems likely) the candidate. She and Elba Esther certainly did NOT deal well when she was Secretary of Education.
ReplyDeleteOf course, anything is possible. I agree that the contest just became a bit more interesting!
I think you're absolutely right on that one. That said, Josefina doesn't have it bagged yet... and Cordero would gladly bring Gordillo on board... at this pace, hard to be bored!
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