Political Thermometer

Amidst the background of the economic and health crises that continue to plague the world, the issue that continues to be a concern for Mexico is politics. Indeed, everything is gearing up for 2021 to be the year in which we will see high temperatures on the Mexican political thermometer. On Sunday, June 6, 2021, the largest election in the history of the country will be held. There will be elections in all 32 states of the Republic. There will be a new slate in the lower congressional Chamber of Deputies, with 300 members to be elected by a relative majority, and 200 to be elected by the proportional representation principle. The following fourteen states will have elections for governor: Baja California, Baja California Sur, Chihuahua, Colima, Guerrero, Michoacán, Nayarit, Nuevo León, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tlaxcala, and Zacatecas. Additionally, elections for municipal presidencies and for the 16 mayors in Mexico City will take place. These figures show that the interest brought about by the upcoming elections is not by chance, given that the results will determine whether MORENA, the party to which President Andrés Manuel López Obrador belongs, will continue to maintain its dominance in the Mexico’s Congress (it has a majority in the Senate). The elections will also determine if the opposition will be able to maintain control of the state governments that they currently hold or advance in adding new ones to their list. City councils, being the level of government that is closest to citizens, also have important local relevance. The high interest in the upcoming elections is such that parties that hardly ever entered into agreements to form coalitions, such as the National Action Party (PAN by its initials in Spanish) and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI by its initials in Spanish), have expressed their interest in and commitment to, presenting joint candidates. The leftist Democratic Revolution Party (PRD by its initials in Spanish) has also announced that it will form coalitions with the PAN and PRI parties, with which it had traditionally held opposing positions. The polarization is so widespread that PAN leaders issued a statement addressed to their local members instructing them to seek coalitions with other parties, but with a warning not to do so with MORENA. The president's party has indicated that it will present coalitions with its allied parties, specifically with the Labor Party (PT by its initials in Spanish) and the Social Encounter Party (PES by its initials in Spanish). The Green Party has not expressed interest in joining forces with MORENA. As can be seen, the political temperature in Mexico will certainly rise as next summer approaches, climaxing on the country-wide elections to be held on June 6, 2021.