Fire in the PAN in the midst of the renewal of its leadership

The internal race to renew the leadership of the National Action Party (PAN) has started in the middle of a fire. The debacle in the June 2 elections is dragging the conservative party into a serious crisis that escalates with each episode. Its president, Marko Cortés, has been entrenched for months in the face of numerous criticisms within the party that demand accountability. The latest came this Tuesday from former president Felipe Calderón, who has harshly charged him on social media, accusing him of being the leader who “has done the most damage in the history of that party.” The public exchange of accusations illustrates the slope down which the party is sliding, which for three years has been part of a questionable opposition alliance with the PRI and the PRD. In this context, a handful of PAN members have raised their hands to present themselves as possible successors to Marko Cortés, who they also accuse of maneuvering to place a like-minded collaborator in the new leadership.

Senators Damián Zepeda and Kenia López Rabadán, deputy Jorge Romero and former deputy Adriana Dávila are the PAN members who have stepped forward and are rumored to compete in the internal elections. Some voices within the party have put on the table even opening the election to the citizens, which implies a statutory reform. The current regulations establish two possible election formats: open to the militancy or through the National Council, made up of some 300 PAN leaders throughout the country. A commission, made up of members close to Cortés, will make the decision. In the corridors of the party they are already planning that it will be between September and October when the call for elections will be issued.

Critics of the current presidency suspect that if the internal process is limited to the National Council, its chances will be slimmer. Zepeda and Dávila represent this position, although they say they are willing to compete even if the call is not finally open to all members. Dávila says he recognizes the proven track record and honorability of the members of the commission in charge, but he believes there is a conflict of interest that “could cloud the process.”

The controversy is centered mainly on three legislators who are part of the electoral commission: Teresa Aranda, María Beatriz Zavala and Ignacio Loya. All three are subordinates of Jorge Romero, coordinator of the federal deputies group, and close to Cortés. The most critical even suggest that Romero, who maintains a low profile, is the bet for continuity of the current presidency.

Another of the candidates, although not yet formally, Senator López Rabadán, one of the spokespeople for Xóchitl Gálvez’s campaign and also close to Cortés, rules out any attempt at simulation in the process. “I think there is no possibility of having the dice loaded at this stage of the party given the election results. But it will be the militancy that speaks.”

The crude confrontation between Cortés and Calderón, which included mentions of Genaro García Luna, Calderón’s former Secretary of Security convicted of drug trafficking, has fueled the criticism of the PAN administration about the urgent need to renew the leadership with a totally different profile. “The new leadership has to talk about reconciliation, understanding and the recovery of dialogue between us. This exchange of accusations only shows that there is no direction, no leadership,” Dávila concludes.

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