Mexico's highest electoral court TEPJF declared yesterday unanimously that PAN's party rules do not prohibit Roberto Gil for running for the party presidency, rejecting the complaint by Senator Blanca Judith Díaz that Gil's short tenure in the party - he's been a member for barely 2.5 years - made him ineligible.
The tribunal is quite right: Technically, there is no law or stipulation in the party regulations decreeing this explicilty.
However - and there is a big however - party rules explicitly state that anyone who wants to be a member of the PAN's national council must have been a member for at least five years. It would therefore appear to be obvious that the same would apply to the party's top position, its president. One may venture to suggest that this has been so obvious that it didn't occur for anyone to write it down. Until Gil came along, that is: His backers have arrogantly dismissed this rule as having nothing to do with the party presidency.
It should be obvious to any remotely objective observer what while the TEPJF ruling may be technically correct - it is not explicitly written - it is such a blatant violation of the spirit of the party laws, and to be sure, goes against PAN's entire transitory, which remained a party of legality and institutionality until Fox and particularly Calderón heavily battered the party's autonomy. Should Gil become the party president he will be the third president imposed by Calderón. For the PAN it will be a Pyrrhic victory.
Showing posts with label Blanca Judith Díaz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blanca Judith Díaz. Show all posts
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
The caballada expands: Roberto Gil Zuarth registers for PAN leadership succession
The past weekend and week saw the additional registration for contenders for the PAN presidency of Senator Blanca Judith Díaz and Francisco Ramírez Acuña, former governor of Jalisco (2001-2006), briefly minister of the interior in Calderón's cabinet, and now a federal deputy.
Yet it was the rather surprise announcement by Roberto Gil Zuarth yesterday that he would also seek the nomination that caused the greatest stir. Roberto Gil Zuarth is considered quite a hot-shot in PAN and a quick riser - and he is barely 33 years old. Notably, former interior minister Fernando Gómez Mont, under which Gil served, accompanied him for his registration and declared he would consider returning to PAN, should Gil become its next president. Gómez Mont, to recall, loudly renounced from PAN over the electoral alliances with PRD, and then from the administration of Felipe Calderón this July. He has held a very low profile ever since.
Until now, Senator Gustavo Madero and Ramírez Acuña have been considered the front runners, yet Gil appears closer to Calderón than any of them.
There is one problem: According to party rules, the party's national councilors, who will elect the president Dec 4-5, all need to have been members of at least five years of the party, and Gil only has about 2.5 years of membership in the PAN. His supporters retort that the rule only apply for councilors, and not the party president, and as such does not disqualify Gil. Yet this is pretty disingenuous. Yes, the statutes may only stipulate the national councilors need five years of party membership and say nothing about the president, but a more plausible reading of this is simply that it would be even more unthinkable for a president to have less than five years militancy - after all, what is the logic of demanding it of the PAN council but not the president? Yet the time when PAN was a party that strictly adhered to the internal party rules or even obeyed the spirit of the statues, has long passed. To cite but the most obvious, Calderón himself blatantly intervened to have his designates Germán Martínez and then César Nava appointed as party presidents.
In any event, should there be any doubt as to Calderón's preferences, Germán Martínez (2007-2009 PAN president) declared that Roberto Gil would represent calderonismo as well as post-calderonismo, as the tenure of head of PAN's excecutive committe would extend to 2013, after the presidential elections. Ramírez Acuña and particularly Madero until now appeared the strongest contenders; now, many may place their money rather on Gil.
Yet it was the rather surprise announcement by Roberto Gil Zuarth yesterday that he would also seek the nomination that caused the greatest stir. Roberto Gil Zuarth is considered quite a hot-shot in PAN and a quick riser - and he is barely 33 years old. Notably, former interior minister Fernando Gómez Mont, under which Gil served, accompanied him for his registration and declared he would consider returning to PAN, should Gil become its next president. Gómez Mont, to recall, loudly renounced from PAN over the electoral alliances with PRD, and then from the administration of Felipe Calderón this July. He has held a very low profile ever since.
Until now, Senator Gustavo Madero and Ramírez Acuña have been considered the front runners, yet Gil appears closer to Calderón than any of them.
There is one problem: According to party rules, the party's national councilors, who will elect the president Dec 4-5, all need to have been members of at least five years of the party, and Gil only has about 2.5 years of membership in the PAN. His supporters retort that the rule only apply for councilors, and not the party president, and as such does not disqualify Gil. Yet this is pretty disingenuous. Yes, the statutes may only stipulate the national councilors need five years of party membership and say nothing about the president, but a more plausible reading of this is simply that it would be even more unthinkable for a president to have less than five years militancy - after all, what is the logic of demanding it of the PAN council but not the president? Yet the time when PAN was a party that strictly adhered to the internal party rules or even obeyed the spirit of the statues, has long passed. To cite but the most obvious, Calderón himself blatantly intervened to have his designates Germán Martínez and then César Nava appointed as party presidents.
In any event, should there be any doubt as to Calderón's preferences, Germán Martínez (2007-2009 PAN president) declared that Roberto Gil would represent calderonismo as well as post-calderonismo, as the tenure of head of PAN's excecutive committe would extend to 2013, after the presidential elections. Ramírez Acuña and particularly Madero until now appeared the strongest contenders; now, many may place their money rather on Gil.
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