Sunday, April 10, 2011

PRD-PAN alliance in Mexico State officially over

Following the approval of the PRD-PAN electoral alliance in Mexico State by the PRD's state branch, its national council, which has the last say over the issue, voted yesterday, 91-77 in favor of the alliance. Given that this is far from a required 2/3 majority, it effectively means that the PRD-PAN alliance in this state is officially dead.

Notably, the about 17 council members regarded as close to Marcelo Ebrard didn't even take a position, but chose to abstain - as did national party leader Jesús Zambrano - despite earlier having been strongly in favor of the alliance. I find it hard not to accept the interpretation that this is also Andrés Manuel López Obrador's victory over Marcelo Ebrard, whose critics accuse him of acting as a "subordinate" of AMLO. Clearly Ebrard sensed that the alliance by now was close to a lost cause, and abstained in order not to provoke further tension with AMLO, who accepts any and all criticism as "treason" but it also means that the inevitable AMLO-Ebrard showdown was merely postponed. And in my view, Ebrard clearly did not come strengthened out of this prelude.

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