The campaign for the presidency in Mexico is advancing and the distribution of forces seems immutable, with the official candidate at a considerable distance of around 20 points ahead in the most favorable polls. In a movement in the final stretch, two weeks before the presidential elections, the opposition coalition, which brings together the traditional parties although of diverse ideology, the PAN, the PRI and the PRD, has tried to add the third candidate in contention for all go against the president’s successor, Claudia Sheinbaum, as the only possibility of taking first place from her. But Jorge Álvarez Máynez, from Movimiento Ciudadano, did not want to enter that game and will continue the fight alone. They accuse him of betraying Mexico.
From the beginning of the electoral contest, a blurred opposition knew that all the country’s political forces were needed to counteract the push of the Government party, which seems to be carrying its candidate towards the presidential seat. They have not stopped making ties to see if they would attract the minority party to their cause, which presents itself as the third way in Mexico for those who do not like the old parties or the one that is governing. And even with the Citizen Movement, the accounts do not completely work out, but it is the only option. This week, the leader of the PRI, Alejandro Moreno, has offered to resign from the leadership of his party and his candidacy for the Senate as long as Máynez declines his presidential aspirations and makes available to the candidate of the opposition coalition, Xóchitl Gálvez, all its political propaganda, nine million advertising spaces. The attempt has not achieved what it sought and has ended in a string of insults between each other. The always explosive PRI leader has accused Máynez of “not having the balls” to take the step that “Mexico needs” to which the Emecista candidate has responded that Moreno “confuses testosterone with courage.”
Some time ago, Máynez, 38, whose party presents itself as the new option in the face of “old and corrupt Mexican politics,” challenged the rest of the opposition parties to renounce their leaders and their Senate candidates if they wanted to. that the Citizen Movement would consider the possibility of joining them. What was nothing more than bravado without major pretensions became a possibility this week, when the head of the PRI accepted the challenge and put his political aspirations on the table if the Citizen Movement kept his word. He did so in a solemn press conference in which he justified his decision for the greater good of Mexico. The proposal was a solo getaway, as cyclists do, because the other leader, the head of the PAN, Marko Cortés, remained silent with the rest of the peloton.
At first, Máynez seemed cornered, because the suggestion of his decline came hours before from his own ranks. It was Luis Donaldo Colosio, son of the presidential candidate of the same name assassinated in 1994, who formulated the “possibility” that his party partner would decline in favor of Xóchitl Gálvez. Citizen Movement was plunged into confusion for a few hours. Colosio Jr. has enormous moral authority inherited from his father and is one of the most valued political figures in polls. Despite this, he himself resigned from running as a presidential candidate for these June 2 elections for his party, the Citizen Movement, the Oranges. But his word always generates interest and on this occasion a good stir was created. The PRI’s offer, the next day, allowed Máynez to be reborn through mockery against this party, its leader and the entire opposition. The candidate, who barely reaches 7% in the polls, has had a dip in popularity in recent days. After all, the request to decline in favor of other candidates is common in Mexico during electoral times.
This Sunday, the last presidential debate, which is preceded by a large concentration of the entire opposition, except the Citizen Movement, in front of the National Palace, will once again have three candidates: Sheinbaum, Gálvez and Máynez, the candidate with a wide smile who has cultivated the young vote in Mexico. The population between 18 and 45 years old represents half of the electorate and 14 million people reach the age to vote for the first time in these elections. Citizen Movement has placed all its hopes in them, with a campaign aimed almost exclusively at meetings between the candidate and students at universities throughout the country. A strategy that allows him to move the young vote and appear surrounded by people, something that is not easily achieved on the street. It is the party that has the most experience in the use of new technologies to reach the youngest voters. A song designed for the candidate’s campaign went viral in recent weeks, reaching the top positions on Spotify and YouTube. Sticky like chewing gum, the tune is heard on the streets and in taxis, at parties and between jokes. “They dance it even in South Korea,” they boasted at the game. And it was true.
However, the Citizen Movement’s voting strength is very few and the opposition criticizes it for its obstinacy in fighting alone for a presidential purpose that it will not achieve, but will subtract votes from the opposition, that is, playing into the hands of the ruling party. But an alliance of the orange party with the PRI and the PAN would be almost political suicide. Movimiento Ciudadano has bet its entire political strategy on presenting itself as the formation that will put an end to the old Mexican parties, burdened by corruption, and an alliance with them now would disappoint, perhaps forever, its followers. The oranges are not going to win the presidency, but they still have the option of obtaining a reasonable result in some governorships or mayoralties at stake, as well as a group of deputies and senators that will keep them in Mexican political life to aspire to higher levels in the future, perhaps when the new six-year term passes and citizens decide to change their vote to Morena for a new lease of life. Meanwhile, the most unknown candidate of the three has enjoyed an unexpected boost of oxygen these days.
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