Jul 2, 2012

Peña Nieto's victory in Mexico is a vote for the old regime


The Guardian: Comment is Free. Luis Hernández Navarro. Mexicans have backed the old guard of the PRI. But allegations remain that Peña Nieto's Televisa links skewed the vote

Two Mexicos confronted each other at the polls on Sunday. One of them, formed by thoughtful citizens who want a different country and are determined to support Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The other, those who are afraid of change, obedient to political hierarchies and passively consume the television narrative, who voted for Enrique Peña Nieto.

Exit polls signal a return of Mexico's long-ruling party, the Revolutionary Institutional party (PRI), which ran the country for seven decades until 2000. About 49 million people voted – 62% of registered voters. Peña Nieto appears to have won 38% of the vote, against López Obrador, with 31%.

Both presidential hopefuls spent the last six years building their candidacies. López Obrador formed a civic-electoral movement; he managed to be nominated by the three registered centre-left parties; he toured every municipality in the country and headed the fight against the privatisation of the oil industry.

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