Mexico set to Elect its Next President

Via the BBC:  Mexico election: Presidential candidates end campaigns

PRI candidate Enrique Pena Nieto, who has a big lead in the polls, held a final rally in his home state.

Rivals Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the PRD and Josefina Vazquez Mota of the governing PAN also addressed thousands of their supporters.

Mexicans will also be voting on Sunday for Congress and some state governors.

Wednesday’s rallies capped a long, expensive and at times bitter election campaign, which officially began three months ago.

The likely outcome is that the PRI will retake the presidency for the first time since Mexico made the transition to democracy in 2000.  The PAN has controlled the office since Vincente Fox became the first non-PRIista* to be president of Mexico since the Revolution.  Fox was followed  in office by Felipe Calderon.  Mexico has a 6-year term of office and presidents are limited to one term.

Mr Pena Nieto, who has maintained a double-digit lead according to most opinion polls, addressed supporters in Toluca, capital of the State of Mexico where he is the former governor.

“My priority will be to tackle the poverty in our country at its roots,” he said.

Mr Pena Nieto has presented himself as the new face of the PRI, which governed Mexico uninterrupted for 71 years before being defeated in 2000.

*Yes, I know that the party was not always called the PRI.  I am simplifying for blogging purposes.

FILED UNDER: Democracy, Latin America, The Presidency, World Politics, , ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter