Emilio Chuayffet new head of Chamber of Deputies

Emilio Chuayffet Chemor has been governor of Mexico State and interior secretary under Ernesto Zedillo. He is from yesterday as well President of the mesa ejecutiva or the Congress directorate.

While this important position corresponded to the PRD - the PRI reneged on an earlier agreement  (see background here and here) - the three main parties PRI, PAN, and  PRD will instead take turns the last year of this session, while PRD will head the coordinating junta.

A year ago, when a deal had been made that the PRD would preside both the junta and the directorate for the entire session, I wrote:

The coordinators of the parties in congress agreed to a deal where PRD will get to preside the two organs, though a special vote of 2/3 majority will be held where the stipulations of the Organic Law regulating Congress will simply be "set aside" for that year. PRD will simply have to take their word for it, that this will actually come to pass

And guess what happened? PRI reneged on this promise.

Gordian knot cut, for now, in San Lázaro: Jorge Carlos Ramírez Marín president of the Congress directorate

The crisis engulfing the Mexican congress regarding control over its key organs appears to be resolved, for now, yet the deal appears more than a bit shady: PRI will preside over the Congress directorate, while the PRD will get control over both the directorate and the coordinating junta the last year of the congress period.

To recall: PRI, reneging on previous accords, decided to go for the presidency for the coming year of the mesa ejecutiva or Congress directorate, a key organ, even though this corresponded to the PRD. Given that the presidency of both the directorate and the coordinating junta rotates among the three largest parties in congress, this would, given the cycle, leave the PRD in control of both of these organs the last year of congress, which would be unconstitutional. Then how was this possibly resolved?

The coordinators of the parties in congress agreed to a deal where PRD will get to preside the two organs, though a special vote of 2/3 majority will be held where the stipulations of the Organic Law regulating Congress will simply be "set aside" for that year. PRD will simply have to take their word for it, that this will actually come to pass.

Yet it gets fishier. Knowing that the part of PRD allied with Andrés Manuel López Obrador was strongly opposed to allowing the Nueva Izquirda faction obtain the Congress presidency, the deal that PRD's group coordinator and AMLO  incondicional Alejandro Encinas made appears a bit suspicious, given that Encinas himself loudly condemned as unconstitutional just a few days ago the outcome he now has apparently signed on to.

The new mesa ejecutiva president, Jorge Carlos Ramírez Marín, is considered very close to PRI national leader Beatriz Paredes, who has not given up her own presidential ambitions, or at least to be mayor of Mexico City. Even though she will step down as PRI leader, her influence will thus clearly be felt in San Lázaro the coming session.

PRI confirms its scorched-earth politics by robbing PRD of the Congress directorate

No holds barred: The PRI is angry with PAN and especially the PRD, and increasingly uses every occasion to demonstrate it. (Main reasons: The PRD's success in luring PRI Senator Ángel Aguirre to break with the PRI in Guerrero, as well as the enveloping scandal surrounding the granting of dirt-cheap licenses for Mexico's wireless spectrum to Televisa, undoubtedly for some quid pro quo. More on that later).

Despite the fact that it is now the PRD's turn to preside the mesa ejecutiva, or the directorate or "executive board" of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies, PRI declared it will use its majority to impose a priísta to head the directorate when PAN deputy Francisco Javier Ramírez Acuña (PAN) steps down in - or not, if chaos ensues - in September. The PRI then intends to lead the lower house of the Mexican Congress until December 2011, either directly through a PRI president of the directorate or through a federal deputy of the Green Party, which is allied with the PRI and together form a majority in congress. 

Beyond a jab at the PRD, this issue is of great importance to the stability and functioning of congress itself, and for a range of reasons. Most obviously, controlling the directorate of congress means having control of congressional debate - arranging discussion and votes, deciding what type of vote to be held over initiatives, making sure parliamentary rules are followed, and so forth. The Organic Law of Congress, in its most recent revision, states that the three largest parties are to rotate the presidency of the mesa ejecutiva. Putting a Green Party (PVEM) deputy to head it would clearly breech this law, but also would mean reneging on an oral agreement made earlier that PRD would now lead it. 

Crucially, as it is the PRI's turn to preside over the Senate (the outgoing president is PRD's Carlos Navarrete), it would leave PRI in control of both chambers of the Mexican congress - the Senate as well as the Chamber of Deputies.

There are obstacles here, both legal and practical ones. For one, while PRI and PVEM have a majority that they intend to use to justify their control of the congress directorate, they will still need 2/3 majority, or the support of other parties. This would then turn into a test of "loyalties," so to speak, of the PRD-PAN alliances, which were principally electoral and not legislative in nature. Will the PAN stick with the PRD and block a 2/3 vote, or will it vote with the PRI in exchange for a political favor? 

Another obstacle: In addition to the mesa ejecutiva, another crucial organ is the Junta de Coordinación Política, which first and foremost sets the actual agenda of what Congress is to discuss in the first place - and it is the only organ that has this power. (The Junta also has the power to shape the legislation itself, redrafting proposals directly, or indirectly through the individuals it places to head parliamentary committees, another key function). The Junta is set to be lead by PAN, and while some initial reports suggested that PAN might be willing to leave the PRD with presiding this organ, this deal apparently fell through. 

Moreover, had the PRD taken over the Junta, it might also have caused quite a bit of internal tension in the PRD: While Jesús Zambrano, a key member of the Nueva Izquierda faction in the PRD, would have been the new president of the Mesa ejecutiva, Alejandro Encinas, an inconditional AMLO ally, as coordinator of the PRD parliamentary group would have headed the Junta (it is made up of all the parliamentary party group leaders). The pro and anti-AMLO factions in the PRD's parliamentary group had, as such, different agendas.

Should the PRI somehow manage to win control over the mesa while PAN heads the Junta, it would leave the PRD completely out of having key agenda-setting powers, and also greatly reduce its powers to introduce or shape legislation. Yet there is more to it than a mere slight to the PRD: No party is allowed to preside over both these organs simultaneously. Given the sequence of rotations, should the PRI follow through on its threat to preside the mesa, it would mean that down the road PRD would be scheduled technically to head both the junta and the mesa, which is unconstitutional. 

Yet for now, the PRI doesn't seem too concerned about these scenarios of ungovernability or unconstitutionality. Let's hope cooler heads in the party prevail.