Mexico 2006

[Redefeatbush04]

PRI is the party of The Leader and The Flag. Historically, it was created to give the revolutionary generals a platform where they could interact and share spoils without shooting. Since the founders were, generally, sociallist, so was the party, at least early on.  Rather quickly, it converged to the following arrangement. The party would completely and loyally support the president in whatever he decided to do during a single 6-year term. At the end of the term, the president would nominate a successor (from within the party, and not a relative of himself),  which the party made sure would be overwhelmingly elected, and then unconditionally retire from politics.   In return, the party was guaranteed (honestly or otherwise) all but a handfull of congressional seats, all governorships and all but a few   municipal administrations.  Opposition (mainly, the right-wing PAN) was usually allowed to elect a half-dozen congressmen and a mayor of a village or two.  If they disagreed with such a paltry alotment, they were free not to take their seats.

Starting in the mid 1980's PRI had a sequence of 3 pro-market presidents. Once the new orientation of the presidency (and, hence, of the party) became clear, the left wing of it split, forming the PRD. The first 2 pro-market presidents (de la Madrid and Salinas) were not really democrats, but did allow slightly greater degree of political freedom, resulting in the opposition (PAN) capturing a few large municipalities and, eventually, some governorhips.  The left-wing of PRI (now the PRD), probably, won the 1988 presidential election, but a timely "computer glitch" spoiled their chances.

In 1994 an "accidental" (and, as it turned out, disloyal to the party) president Zedillo came to power. He wanted to ensure his place in history by introducing democracy to Mexico. PRI was in a bind: loyal to the presidency, PRI congressmen were forced to vote for their own defeat, by creating an independent electoral commission and electoral tribunals. In 1997 they lost majority in Congress, and in 2000 the presidency (they still have the largest congressional faction and most governorhips, though).

The current system is, roughly, like this. The left-wing PRD (the true PRI of old) is a socialist party. They address each other "comrades" the way and govern in the capital city and the states of Guerrero, Michoacan, Baja California Sur and Zacatecas, and have a strong presence in Tlaxcala and Tabasco and parts of the Mexico State. Their organization in the rest of the country is near negligible. Their congressional faction is weak. In some states they may have inherited the PRI patronage network. Their color is yellow, not red.

The right-wing PAN is the traditional opposition. Early on (in the 1950s) it had an economic conservative and a religious conservative wings.  Later the religious conservatives were dominant, but  the current leadership has a number of outsiders (including president Fox himself), so the religious wing is somewhat in check. The party governs in a number of central and northern states and is the principal opposition in most of the remainder (usually, to PRI, to PRD in the capital). They control the presidency and have the second-largest faction in the Congress. They run under the blue-white colors.

The PRI is ... well, the patronage party. It has multiple factions and is, in general, a "big tent". Traditionally, they also address each other "comrades" (though, they use a different, milder word than the PRD). They are in league with the unions and the free-market wing is blamed for the defeat in 2000, so these days they are somewhat more to the left, but they won't insist on it too much.  Their colors are green-white-red, so if you vote against them, you vote against the national flag.

Additionally, there are a few small parties, which control some seats/ offices.  The Greens are a family business directed at getting campaign funds and sellig the votes to the highest bidder (somewhat in the mode, but with a lot fewer principles, then the old NY Liberal party) . The Labor Party (color - red) is a more radical version of the PRD (the non-PRI leftists). The Convergence party and a couple of newer start-ups complete the picture.

To make slight sense, here is a sample of party adverts for the fothcoming Mexico State election (one of the few states were all three parties are strong).  The election is next month, the adverts are seen all over the city subway (which gets out into the state).

PAN: "under the PAN goverment in the last 4 years 3 million people bought new houses" (subsidezed by the government). "under PAN x gazillion citizens got sociall security!"/

PRD: "The PRD-controlled government  of the Capital City has introduced old age pensions for y hundred thousand capitalinos". "The City assambley has passed the old-age and the young-age laws protecting your rights" "Mexico - a different government".

PRI (note: the current governor is from PRI): "Join the party and win! Your party-membership card is your lottery ticket!". In front of a big pyramid or a big montain, or a torso of a soccer player the national (and party) tricolor and a slogan: "Very Mexican. PRI".

I guess, that's enough.

Very informative post AG