After much pressure, governor Gabino Cué of Oaxaca fired his Government Secretary, essentially his second-in-command, Irma Piñeyro Arias. A former gubernatorial candidate for the PANAL party who dropped out in favor of Cué, she is an ally of the powerful SNTE head Elba Esther Gordillo. Her resignation is as such a defeat for Gordillo, and a victory in particular for the "dissident" wing of SNTE in Oaxaca, Section 22, which has long demanded her resignation. New Government secretary is Jesús Martínez Álvarez, who was notably governor briefly in the mid-1980s.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
New surprise head of Mexico's Electoral Tribunal: Alejandro Luna Ramos
Alejandro Luna Ramos was elected, by oral vote by his fellow peers, as the new head of Mexico's Federal Electoral Tribunal, Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación (TEPJF), by 5 out of 7 magistrates (His sister, Margarita Beatriz Luna Ramos, is a Supreme Court judge).
Outgoing TEPJF president María del Carmen Alanís, failed to achieve her reelection. Not only that; in a quite shocker vote, her reelection was backed by only one vote: her own. She has been considered by many to be a tad too friendly to the PRI. Relations have been at times quite acrimonious between Alanís and the other TEPJF members. As far as 2012 goes, a broader consensus for the new head of Mexico's highest electoral court can only be a positive thing.
Outgoing TEPJF president María del Carmen Alanís, failed to achieve her reelection. Not only that; in a quite shocker vote, her reelection was backed by only one vote: her own. She has been considered by many to be a tad too friendly to the PRI. Relations have been at times quite acrimonious between Alanís and the other TEPJF members. As far as 2012 goes, a broader consensus for the new head of Mexico's highest electoral court can only be a positive thing.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Michoacán: Government Secretary says reconcile with drug gangs
A quite notable lack of harmony from the Michoacán state government: The Government Secretary, Rafael Melgoza, suggested that the drug gangs should "reconcile" with the people and community.
Also these people who are engaged in this illegal activity have to reconcile, it sounds bad to express this phrase, but they need to reconcile, they must reconcile these illegal activities that they perform with the interests of peoples and communities."Shortly thereafter, the state government, led by Leonel Godoy, sent out a press bulletin distancing itself from what was said by its Government Secretary, essentially the second in command of the state government.
Mexican political parties: They've cost 37 billion pesos since 2000.
Since the coming of democracy in Mexico in 2000, the costs to Mexican taxpayers of financing the country's political parties have been close to 37 billion pesos, Centro de Documentación, Información y Análisis of the Mexican congress reports.
* In this period, nine parties disappeared, despite receiving 1.9 billion pesos in subsidies
* PAN has received around 10, the same as PRI, while PRD has received 5.7 billion.
However, minor parties receive a disproportionately high amount: The Green Party, which has absolutely nothing to do with environmentalism but is a franchise party at the service of the highest bidder, has received over 3 billion pesos. PT: 2.5 billion pesos, and Convergencia 2.2. PANAL of Elba Esther Gordillo received almost 1.2 billion pesos, despite existing only since 2006.
It seems to me the state subsidy to parties is in quite a few cases perverted by minor parties who are in it primarily for one reason: To get their hands on this money. This is about as far away from the original goal as possible, namely to further democracy by ensuring a plurality of party options. I strongly support state subsidies of parties, but this is undermining the entire practice.
* In this period, nine parties disappeared, despite receiving 1.9 billion pesos in subsidies
* PAN has received around 10, the same as PRI, while PRD has received 5.7 billion.
However, minor parties receive a disproportionately high amount: The Green Party, which has absolutely nothing to do with environmentalism but is a franchise party at the service of the highest bidder, has received over 3 billion pesos. PT: 2.5 billion pesos, and Convergencia 2.2. PANAL of Elba Esther Gordillo received almost 1.2 billion pesos, despite existing only since 2006.
It seems to me the state subsidy to parties is in quite a few cases perverted by minor parties who are in it primarily for one reason: To get their hands on this money. This is about as far away from the original goal as possible, namely to further democracy by ensuring a plurality of party options. I strongly support state subsidies of parties, but this is undermining the entire practice.
State level changes 2008-2010 show rising poverty in PRI states
Here's a graphic from Milenio that shows 1) the number of social program beneficiaries (Oportunidades, 70 y más, Empleo temporal and Liconsa), a proxy for the number of poor, 2) the percentage of poverty in the poorest states, and the most interesting, 3) the change in poverty rates from the crisis in 2008 until 2010 - not all states had more poor, but those run by the PRI tend to have the worst numbers, with exception of PAN-run Guanajuato. See graphic:
Oportunidades spending doubled under Calderón
Amidst all the talk of rising poverty figures in Mexico, here's one case where I think Calderón deserves credit:
The highly successful conditional cash-transfer program Oportunidades saw its budget double from 2005 to 2011 - it jumped from 28 billion to 57 billion pesos. This is truly impressive.
While no magic bullet to end poverty, Oportunidades has proven vastly succesful in terms of enrolling more children in school, making sure they stay there, and improving nutrition for infants and children, among other gains.In Mexico it now covers almost 6 million households, or 29 million people. Most live on the countryside, and not in the big cities.
There is a reason why this has been copied by so many other countries, most famously in Brazil's Bolsa Familia.
Graphic from El Universal of its component parts:
The highly successful conditional cash-transfer program Oportunidades saw its budget double from 2005 to 2011 - it jumped from 28 billion to 57 billion pesos. This is truly impressive.
While no magic bullet to end poverty, Oportunidades has proven vastly succesful in terms of enrolling more children in school, making sure they stay there, and improving nutrition for infants and children, among other gains.In Mexico it now covers almost 6 million households, or 29 million people. Most live on the countryside, and not in the big cities.
There is a reason why this has been copied by so many other countries, most famously in Brazil's Bolsa Familia.
Graphic from El Universal of its component parts:
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
The cost of Mexico's 2012 election: 16 billion pesos. Church weighs in.
Mexico's federal electoral institute (IFE) has requested almost 16 billion pesos for the 2012 presidential election. This whopping sim is particularly notable as the 2007-08 electoral reform had as one of its main goals to reduce the cost of elections, principally due to only allowing parties to contract tv/radio advertisements through slots allotted to them by IFE, rather than purchasing themselves at a massive cost.
Head of IFE Leonardo Valdés defended the cost - 30 percent higher than in 2006 - as a product of IFE's new functions that include, among others, much more expanded media monitoring, but also due to increased insecurity as a product of the fight with and between drug gangs. He also insists that the institute is ready for 2012, though public approval of - and faith in - IFE has been dropping notably in recent months.
Some of this may be attributed to the Catholic church, which demanded that the institute be a representative of citizens and not of parties, while it denounced the IFE's rising operating costs. The church also attacked the "restrictive laws" of 2007 that it claims restrict freedom of expression, even though it was not passed by IFE but by Congress and IFE merely has to follow the new legislation. It also conspicuously made no mention of the recent IFE/TEPJF verdict that the Archdiocese broke the law in its attack on the PRD.
One of church's points is well taken, though: It criticized the lack of autonomy of state electoral institutes and their ease of manipulation vis-a-vis state governors. This is truly an increasing problem that was noted by several of IFE's councilors I interviewed last summer.
Head of IFE Leonardo Valdés defended the cost - 30 percent higher than in 2006 - as a product of IFE's new functions that include, among others, much more expanded media monitoring, but also due to increased insecurity as a product of the fight with and between drug gangs. He also insists that the institute is ready for 2012, though public approval of - and faith in - IFE has been dropping notably in recent months.
Some of this may be attributed to the Catholic church, which demanded that the institute be a representative of citizens and not of parties, while it denounced the IFE's rising operating costs. The church also attacked the "restrictive laws" of 2007 that it claims restrict freedom of expression, even though it was not passed by IFE but by Congress and IFE merely has to follow the new legislation. It also conspicuously made no mention of the recent IFE/TEPJF verdict that the Archdiocese broke the law in its attack on the PRD.
One of church's points is well taken, though: It criticized the lack of autonomy of state electoral institutes and their ease of manipulation vis-a-vis state governors. This is truly an increasing problem that was noted by several of IFE's councilors I interviewed last summer.
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