The ghost of AMLO
The PRD moves forward by distancing itself from its former presidential candidate
The Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary was expected to confirm the victory of Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico, as it did a week ago. Serious irregularities like vote-buying could not overturn what from the beginning was considered a PRI victory.
As we have said before, this election process showed the PRI has not lost its suspect methods, despite Peña Nieto’s insistence that the party has changed.
Given this outlook, with a divided legislative branch, it is very important to have an opposition willing to watch the party in power as well as to work with it when necessary. Those are the results of an active democracy.
That is why it is positive that the PRD’s National Political Committee decided to disconnect itself from what Andrés Manuel López Obrador decides to do to protest the results of the presidential election.
The PRD is on the right path when it looks like a political institution with government functions that does not depend on AMLO’s decisions. This is important both for Mexico and the party’s future.
On Sunday, the strategy of the PRD leader regarding the ratification of Peña Nieto’s win will come to light. AMLO has the right to protest, but the worst he could do is repeat the mistakes of the last election, which ended up hurting him and his party.
Mexico, like it or not, will start a new period with the return of the PRI, because people got fed up with the PAN. This is another opportunity for the PRD to be a modern leftist option, leaving the ghost of authoritarianism that López Obrador represents behind.
Let’s see if AMLO recognizes that he is not the PRD and takes into account on Sunday that the future of the party and of Mexicans is above his personal ambitions.
