{"id":8142,"date":"2023-05-30T04:22:44","date_gmt":"2023-05-30T08:22:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=8142"},"modified":"2023-05-30T04:22:44","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T08:22:44","slug":"with-elections-in-mexicos-most-populous-state-old-ruling-party-may-be-nearing-its-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=8142","title":{"rendered":"With Elections in Mexico\u2019s Most Populous State, Old Ruling Party May Be Nearing Its End"},"content":{"rendered":"
Delfina Gomez, left, MORENA political party gubernatorial candidate, speaks to the crowd during a campaign rally in Valle de Chalco, Mexico, Sunday, May 28, 2023. Voters in the state of Mexico go to the polls on June 4 to elect a new governor. (AP Photo\/Marco Ugarte)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mexico\u2019s former ruling party could face near-extinction in Sunday\u2019s governorship election in the State of Mexico, the largest of Mexico\u2019s 32 states and the last large one governed by the old Institutional Revolutionary Party, the PRI.<\/p>\n

The race could also mark a high point for President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s Morena party, which has imitated \u2014 and largely replaced \u2014 the old PRI across the rest of Mexico. Nearly five years into his single six-year term, L\u00f3pez Obrador remains highly popular.<\/p>\n

Polls suggest Morena could win by a wide margin in the State of Mexico, a contest seen by many as a preview of next year\u2019s presidential elections, in which the party is also seen as the favorite.<\/p>\n

While the PRI might still hold on to the sparsely populated northern state of Coahuila, which is also electing a new governor Sunday, the loss of Mexico State \u2014 a mix of suburbs, slums and agricultural communities that surrounds Mexico City on three sides \u2014 would probably spell the end of the PRI as a major player.<\/p>\n

For a party that held the presidency without interruption from 1929 to 2000 \u2014 and has governed the State of Mexico for 94 years \u2014 it would be a humiliating end.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter June 4 if the PRI loses, you can assert with clarity that it no longer has a future, even though it might take a while to disappear. It might hold on at a regional or local level, but not on a national level. It is coming to its end,\u201d said political analyst Benedicto Ruiz Vargas.<\/p>\n

Ruiz Vargas has seen in his home state of Baja California what happens when the PRI goes into a death spiral; many of its members either retire or seek to join Morena. \u201cThe old guard that has always been there are governing within a new party. It is the PRI mutating into Morena,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That would suit L\u00f3pez Obrador just fine. Many of the top positions in his government are occupied by former PRI members, like himself.<\/p>\n

Sociologist Bernardo Barranco says L\u00f3pez Obrador is a bit of a throwback to the charismatic PRI presidents of the 1960s and 70s, who gave out government-built apartments and government-run grocery stores. Unfortunately, they were also corrupt and ran the economy into the ground.<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez Obrador \u201chas a style like the PRI had in the 1960s,\u201d Barranco said, adding \u201cthere is a nostalgia for that protective state that looked out for people\u2019s incomes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Mexico State, where the current, patrician Gov. Alfredo del Mazo is a third generation PRI politician and governor, L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s party is running Delfina G\u00f3mez, a not very charismatic former schoolteacher whose demeanor very much comes from the classroom.<\/p>\n

PRI is running Alejandra del Moral, a former mayor with a long list of university degrees.<\/p>\n

But the deciding factors for voters in the State of Mexico are much earthier, and have to do with survival.<\/p>\n

When work is scarce, refrigeration technician Juan Ayala runs a small stand selling sunglasses, hats and toys on the sidewalk of the huge municipality of Ecatepec.<\/p>\n

He is sure Morena candidate Delfina G\u00f3mez will win, because he \u2014 like many others in the rough Mexico City suburb \u2014 is tired of corruption that has lasted almost a century.<\/p>\n

\n

As a reporter speaks with him, a burly young man from a shadowy \u201cautonomous social organization\u201d \u2014 that\u2019s what it says on his jacket \u2014 passes through and silently demands 50 pesos in payment from every vendor on the side walk, and takes a photo of each one after they pay. The vendors say it happens every week, and those who don\u2019t pay are banned from selling.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s wrong, because they get rich off it. They\u2019ve been doing it for 50 years,\u201d Ayala said.<\/p>\n

Leonora Gonzalez, 61, who works as part of a cleaning crew, says she hopes the PRI will win, if only to return to a past time when crime wasn\u2019t so bad in the State of Mexico. Crime is so common here that when young men carrying pistols climb aboard commuter vans here, they simply announce robberies with phrase \u201cyou know the routine, people, wallets and cell phones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gonzalez herself had her wallet and cellphone stolen at gunpoint recently as she exited a subway station at night after a long day\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels terrible, what little you have, and they take it,\u201d said Gonz\u00e1lez. \u201cBefore, there wasn\u2019t so much crime. Now you don\u2019t feel safe. You can\u2019t even go out at night.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone agrees that the bigger issues of national party politics aren\u2019t the deciding factor in this largely poor state: Direct cash payments are.<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez Obrador established a monthly food aid payment for people over 65 that currently pays about $135 per month. For many here, that \u2014 along with scholarships for high school students and other aid programs \u2014 are key.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issue here is basically money,\u201d said businessman Carlos Sanchez, who says his mother-in-law was able to fix up her house by saving up three months of L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s monthly payments.<\/p>\n

The PRI tried a similar strategy with a debit card dubbed \u201cthe Pink Salary\u201d for housewives, but Sanchez said there were often no funds deposited in the cards.<\/p>\n

In addition, Sanchez says his high school age son is eligible for a $150 per month scholarship. \u201cMorena may be the same as the other parties, but at least they do give us things,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It is all part of L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s ability to tap into a deep historical vein of Mexican leadership as the benevolent leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cMorena has to win. The old age pensions, all the other benefits. They give out the wealth of the nation, while the other parties in the past gave you a bag of food or a water tank,\u201d said Ayala, the refrigeration tech.<\/p>\n

Barranco, who formerly served on the elections board in the State of Mexico, said the PRI\u2019s own history weighs against it, noting it\u2019s hard to convince people you represent a change if you\u2019ve been in power for 94 years.<\/p>\n

While the PRI once produced charismatic if corrupt leaders who were able to provide handouts from the country\u2019s oil wealth or a long stretch of economic growth, by the 1980s economic crises forced the party into a more technocratic, neo-liberal mode.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn average, seven out of ten people in the State of Mexico want a change. They are sick and tired of the ruling party,\u201d Barranco said.<\/p>\n

– Mark Stevenson, AP News<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mexico\u2019s former ruling party could face near-extinction in Sunday\u2019s governorship election in the State of Mexico, the largest of Mexico\u2019s 32 states and the last large one governed by the old Institutional Revolutionary Party, the PRI. The race could also mark a high point for President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador\u2019s Morena party, which has imitated…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":124,"featured_media":8145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/storage.googleapis.com\/afs-prod\/media\/3cccec588b0c439db64834ae2480de59\/1000.webp","fifu_image_alt":"With Elections in Mexico\u2019s Most Populous State, Old Ruling Party May Be Nearing Its End","footnotes":""},"categories":[192],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-polity-governance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/124"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8142"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8144,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8142\/revisions\/8144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}