Manuel Andres López Obrador has been the de facto PRD (Democratic Revolution Party) 2012 presidential candidate for several weeks, since his sole primary opponent, Marcel Ebrard, gracefully conceded the race Nov. 15. Yesterday he officially registered with Mexico's federal election commission.
Afterwards López Obrador delivered a few comments, saying "we won in 2006 and we're going to win again in 2012." The reference was to Mexico's last presidential election, in which López Obrador lost to PAN president Felipe Calderón by about one-half of one percent of the votes cast, the narrowest margin in Mexican history. There are recurrent claims of election fraud that year, and some still refer to López Obrador as "the legitimate president of Mexico." http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/09/could-this-man-be-next-president-of.html.
Promising that PRD would turn the country "inside out," the candidate said that Mexico lacks more than just the material basics for millions of its citizens, but has lost its core vales as well. It's a familiar refrain for López Obrador, who attributes the enormous wealth and power of the drug cartels to lack of hope on the part of Mexico's often aimless youth.
López Obrador -- invariably referred to here as the country's leftist candidate -- recently announced a massive "New Deal style" jobs plan for Mexico, where many young people are unemployed (http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/11/lopez-obrador-begins-campaign-with-bold.html). The candidate has promised seven million new jobs in the first year of his administration -- four million in the first six weeks. And yesterday he said that he'll halve the salaries of high level government officials. Mexico's president receives base monthly pay of 247,000 pesos (almost $19,000 USD), while Mexican cabinet secretaries earn 200,000 pesos ($15,000 USD) per month. In addition, all government officials receive extraordinary perks, including Christmas bonuses which would make the most avaricious U.S. politician blush (http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/11/mexicos-christmas-bonuses-illustrate.html). In a country where the minimum monthly wage is 1,800 pesos - $135 USD - and where workers got a trifling 4.2% pay raise yesterday, López Obrador's proposal will likely prove popular with those on the bottom rungs of the ladder.
Mexicans will go to the polls next July 1 to elect Calderón's successor. López Obrador's PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) opponent will be the heavily favored Enrique Pena Nieto (http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/11/pena-nieto-predicts-pri-victory-in-2012.html). The PAN (National Action Party) nominee will not be determined until February. Three hope to be PAN's standard bearer, including Mexico's only female candidate, Josefina Mota (http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/10/josefina-vazquez-mota-likley-to-be-2012.html).
Mexican presidential politics: http://mexicogulfreporter-supplement.blogspot.com/2011/11/mexicos-2012-presidential-election-364.html.
Did you know that 48% of Yucatán state lives in poverty? http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/10/crushed-by-poverty-yucatan-style-crime.html.
Young Mexican women suffer the most from lack of opportunities, prejudices: http://mexicogulfreporter.blogspot.com/2011/11/young-women-in-mexico-suffer-from-lack.html.
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