Mexico's contested election

[Howard Beale]

Random article on Mexico's contested election.

I have just a passing interest in what happens in Mexico but would like to know more and wonder if more than a passing interest is in order. There was a discussion in Politics a short while ago during the election with input from a person in Mexico who was greatly relieved that Manuel Lopez Obrador was defeated. I think he likened him to Hugo Chavez. I've seen Mr. Obrador labeled that way before but don't know if it's accurate.

At any rate, I live in Arizona and the border issues are big here. Without an improved economy to provide jobs in Mexico there will continue to be masses of people looking to cross into the U.S. I'm wondering if Mr. Obrador would be the person to improve the economic situation if he were to somehow attain the Presidency and, if not, will the current powers in Mexico take his very narrow defeat as a warning that they had better act now to improve the lot of the ordinary Mexican citizen.

I've also read speculation that Mr. Obrador may take his protests to the oil fields/industry as he has done before and possibly causing a disruption of Pemex's production. That would have wide ranging consequences, to say the least.

I hoping the fellow from Mexico (whose name I don't remember) will see this and respond.

[Seether]

Obrador being elected would not help the economy in Mexico. From what I have read, his plans are very communistic and seems to want to redistribute wealth from the wealthier citizens, which will slow down investment, which will stifle the expansion of the mexican economy.

[bobman0330]

I'm pretty sure you're thinking of sirio11, the MTT poster. Tellingly, he thought Lopez Obrador would be a complete disaster, and he's pretty left on the US political spectrum.

[Howard Beale]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm pretty sure you're thinking of sirio11, the MTT poster. Tellingly, he thought Lopez Obrador would be a complete disaster, and he's pretty left on the US political spectrum.

[/ QUOTE ]

That name doesn't seem familiar. I wish the Politics forum weren't shut down so I could look it up. So far, though, the socialist/communist/disaster label is sticking, at least on here.

[Enrique]

The other contender is Felipe Calderón. He won the election by about 250,000 votes. The other party appealed for fraud. The tribunal decided to recount the votes of 9% of the districts, the ones where there was irregularities that warranted a recount.
The recount will end in Sunday. I think there was no fraud, so it is very likely that Calderón will be officially named president.

Obrador, has been unfairly compared to Hugo Chávez. Although I disagree with Obrador's economic plans, he is certainly not as communistic as Chávez. Obrador wants to improve social programs and as another poster mention redistribute wealth. His plans didn't convince me, mainly because PRD is (in my opinion) a very corrupt party. The PRI ruled Mexico for 70 years and the people that couldn't be elected in the PRI formed PRD. PRI noticing they won't win anymore has had many people changing parties to PRD. The cabinet of Obrador did incredibly corrupt things (like spend millions of federal dollars in Las Vegas, there is a video with this evidence).
My political stance is left, but PRD was to corrupt for me to vote for them. After the actions of Obrador post-election (not accepting defeat, calling everybody a liar and a traitor and then doing his protest hurting Mexico City's downtown) made me feel like I did the right decision in voting for Calderón.
Calderón also looked impressive in the debate, winning by a landslide. His plans are much tighter and seemed more reasonable. He also wanted a united Mexico. His economic plans seemed much better aswell.
Both candidates talked about creating more jobs in Mexico to stop so many Mexicans from leaving the country.
But, just as an example, here in Cd. Juarez (where I live), minimum wage is $5 a day. In El Paso, Texas (the neighboring US city), the minimum wage is $5.25 an hour (or a little more). Hence it is more than 8 times better to work in America than in Mexico for minimum wage.

[4 High]

Calderon will continue the failed policies of Fox. Obrador was easily the better candidate but with the margin so large i dont think fraud caused the loss, altho i do not doubt it contributed to it.

[bobman0330]

[ QUOTE ]
Calderon will continue the failed policies of Fox. Obrador was easily the better candidate but with the margin so large i dont think fraud caused the loss, altho i do not doubt it contributed to it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you have any evidence of this supposed fraud? What about the sparkling certification the election received from observers?

[4 High]

I should have worded it better. I would not doubt there was fraud, and if there was that it contributed towards Calderons victory.

[Howard Beale]

From my admittedly casual reading it seems there is a group of 'leading families' that control most of Mexico's wealth. Is this true? If so, will they take this close election as a warning that they'd better attend to the lower classes' well being rather than face a potentially ugly situation next time around?

[sirio11]

I think the one poster that compared Obrador to Chavez was Jorge10; I basically agree with Enrique's point. I don't think Obrador is another version of Chavez.

I do think Calderon was the better candidate and Obrador was like going back to a terrible past in Mexico; that past when they thought the state should own everything in the country, the rhetoric was that state own companies was equivalent to all Mexicans owning them; but reality was they were pretty ineffective and the wealth they produced was raked by the corrupt insiders circle close to the politicians. It was a terrible time in Mexico and I really hope it will never be back.
I'm pretty happy Calderon won and I'm impressed with the electoral system in Mexico.