The resurrection
Mar 19th 2008 | MEXICO CITY
From The Economist print edition
The return of a former opponent adds to the president's troubles
ONLY a few weeks ago Andrés Manuel López Obrador was sliding towards political oblivion. Narrowly but clearly beaten by Felipe Calderón in a presidential election in July 2006, Mr López Obrador, a left-wing populist who was once the mayor of Mexico City, organised months of protests against what he alleged was electoral fraud. His contempt for Mexico's democratic institutions scared off many of his erstwhile supporters and split his Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).
Now he is on his way back—and that is a problem for the president. First Mr López Obrador seized on a timid government proposal to open up parts of Mexico's declining oil industry to private investment. He has raised the bogie of “privatisation”, striking a nationalist chord with many Mexicans.
More significantly, he appears to have reasserted his grip on the PRD. Alejandro Encinas, a close ally who stood in as mayor when Mr López Obrador resigned to run for president, won a slim but seemingly decisive victory in a ballot for the party leadership held on March 16th. His opponent, Jesús Ortega, is a senator who led a moderate “new left” faction. He dismissed Mr Encinas as representing “a marginal and self-excluding left”. In a droll reversal of the presidential election, Mr Ortega cried fraud (as did his opponent).
The result showed the depth of the PRD's divisions. Assuming it hangs together, its legislators, who form the second-largest block in Congress, are likely to adopt a more combative stance towards Mr Calderón. But that might not help the party in a mid-term election due in July next year.
Mr López Obrador's resurrection comes at a bad time for the president. His energy reform looks unlikely to be approved in Congress, where he lacks a majority. In addition, Juan Camilo Mouriño, Mr Calderón's interior minister and closest aide, has been accused of impropriety. Between 2000 and 2004, when he chaired the energy committee of the lower house of Congress and then was an aide at the energy ministry (when Mr Calderón was minister), Mr Mouriño signed several contracts with Pemex, the state oil monopoly, on behalf of his family's business. He said his business had received many such contracts in the past, and denies any wrongdoing.
But Congress has opened an investigation, and the speaker of the lower house, a PRD member, has called on Mr Mouriño to resign. Jesús Silva-Herzog, a political commentator, says the allegations play on a public concern that Mr Calderón's conservative National Action Party is too cosy with business.
Until now Mr Calderón has confounded the expectation that his narrow mandate would make governing hard. He has struck a tacit alliance with the third party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, while avoiding antagonising the PRD. This balancing act has suddenly got much harder.
Mar 19th 2008 | MEXICO CITY
From The Economist print edition
The return of a former opponent adds to the president's troubles
ONLY a few weeks ago Andrés Manuel López Obrador was sliding towards political oblivion. Narrowly but clearly beaten by Felipe Calderón in a presidential election in July 2006, Mr López Obrador, a left-wing populist who was once the mayor of Mexico City, organised months of protests against what he alleged was electoral fraud. His contempt for Mexico's democratic institutions scared off many of his erstwhile supporters and split his Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).
Now he is on his way back—and that is a problem for the president. First Mr López Obrador seized on a timid government proposal to open up parts of Mexico's declining oil industry to private investment. He has raised the bogie of “privatisation”, striking a nationalist chord with many Mexicans.
More significantly, he appears to have reasserted his grip on the PRD. Alejandro Encinas, a close ally who stood in as mayor when Mr López Obrador resigned to run for president, won a slim but seemingly decisive victory in a ballot for the party leadership held on March 16th. His opponent, Jesús Ortega, is a senator who led a moderate “new left” faction. He dismissed Mr Encinas as representing “a marginal and self-excluding left”. In a droll reversal of the presidential election, Mr Ortega cried fraud (as did his opponent).
The result showed the depth of the PRD's divisions. Assuming it hangs together, its legislators, who form the second-largest block in Congress, are likely to adopt a more combative stance towards Mr Calderón. But that might not help the party in a mid-term election due in July next year.
Mr López Obrador's resurrection comes at a bad time for the president. His energy reform looks unlikely to be approved in Congress, where he lacks a majority. In addition, Juan Camilo Mouriño, Mr Calderón's interior minister and closest aide, has been accused of impropriety. Between 2000 and 2004, when he chaired the energy committee of the lower house of Congress and then was an aide at the energy ministry (when Mr Calderón was minister), Mr Mouriño signed several contracts with Pemex, the state oil monopoly, on behalf of his family's business. He said his business had received many such contracts in the past, and denies any wrongdoing.
But Congress has opened an investigation, and the speaker of the lower house, a PRD member, has called on Mr Mouriño to resign. Jesús Silva-Herzog, a political commentator, says the allegations play on a public concern that Mr Calderón's conservative National Action Party is too cosy with business.
Until now Mr Calderón has confounded the expectation that his narrow mandate would make governing hard. He has struck a tacit alliance with the third party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, while avoiding antagonising the PRD. This balancing act has suddenly got much harder.