On June 6th Mexico will hold what we in the United States would refer to as a "mid-term" election. Halfway through the six year term of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (commonly referred to as AMLO), the entire lower house of the national legislature, many of the state governorships and countless local positions are up for election.
The campaign is under full swing, and political signs are to be seen throughout the city. In the upscale neighborhood where my apartment is located, most of the banners on people's homes are for the conservative PAN (the National Action Party). In Alejandro's neighborhood most of the signs are for Morena, AMLO's populist party, or the left-wing PDR (Party of the Democratic Revolution).
A campaign banner for PAN legislator Christian von Roehrich (good Mexican name!) on the balcony of an apartment in the affluent district of Colonia del Valle.
Right now AMLO is engaged in a dispute with the INE (the National Electoral Institute), a highly regarded institution which since the late 20th century helped move Mexico away from one-party rule toward a multi-party system.
It is the INE which registers the candidates running for office. They have cancelled the registration of 49 candidates for failure to submit financial reports mandated by law. Forty three of those candidates are members of AMLO's Morena Party, including the candidates for two important gubernatorial races in the states of Michoacán and Guerrero. (The Morena candidate in Guerrero has also been accused by several women of sexually harassment and/or rape by several women.) AMLO has denounced the INE or being antidemocratic... even though it is the institution which has helped bring about free elections in Mexico.
The head of the INE told AMLO to respect the rules.
One has to wonder if the President would be raising such a fuss if it were mainly opposition candidates being denied registration by the INE.
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