(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) holds the upper hand as voters in Mexico ponder their options in the 2012 presidential election, according to a poll by Consulta Mitofsky. 36.8 per cent of respondents would vote for the PRI candidate in the ballot.
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) – The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) holds the upper hand as voters in Mexico ponder their options in the 2012 presidential election, according to a poll by Consulta Mitofsky. 36.8 per cent of respondents would vote for the PRI candidate in the ballot.
The ruling National Action Party (PAN) candidate is a distant second with 19.3 per cent, followed by the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) nominee with 8.3 per cent. 31.7 per cent of respondents are undecided.
The PAN’s Vicente Fox ended 71 years of uninterrupted rule by the PRI in the 2000 presidential election, winning a six-year term with 42.5 per cent of the vote.
Mexican voters chose their new president in July 2006. Official results placed Felipe Calderón of the PAN as the winner with 36.68 per cent of all cast ballots, followed by Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the PRD with 36.11 per cent, and Roberto Madrazo of the PRI with 22.71 per cent. Calderón—a former energy secretary—took over as Mexico’s head of state in December.
In July, Mexico held a mid-term legislative election. The opposition PRI received 36.68 per cent of the vote, compared to 27.98 per cent for the PAN. The number of PAN lawmakers in the Chamber of Deputies was decimated from 206 to 146. The PRI now controls 241 seats in the 500-member lower house, plus 17 seats from its ally, the Green Environmentalist Party (PVEM).
The list of prospective presidential candidates for the PRI includes Mexico state governor Enrique Peña Nieto, national party leader Beatriz Paredes, Sonora senator Manlio Fabio Beltrones, and Veracruz state governor Fidel Herrera. López Obrador and current Mexico City mayor Marcelo Ebrard are expected to vie for the PRD nod. Possible PAN contenders include former interior secretary Santiago Creel, current interior secretary Fernando Gómez Mont, education secretary Josefina Vázquez Mota, and social development secretary Ernesto Cordero.
Last month, former López Obrador advisor Manuel Camacho announced the creation of an alliance of leftist parties—encompassing the PRD, Convergence for Democracy (CD) and the Workers Party (PT)—saying, "From now on we are interested in creating the conditions to go into the 2012 elections united. (…) The right already failed. It is fully established that they don’t know how to govern and have provided very poor results."
The next presidential election is scheduled for July 2012.
Polling Data
Which party would you vote for in the 2012 presidential election?
|
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)
|
36.8%
|
|
National Action Party (PAN)
|
19.3%
|
|
Democratic Revolution Party (PRD)
|
8.3%
|
|
Other parties
|
3.9%
|
|
Not sure / No answer
|
31.7%
|
Source: Consulta Mitofsky
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews with 1,000 Mexican adults, conducted from Oct. 23 to Oct. 28, 2009. Margin of error is 3.5 per cent.
