Many thanks to Julio for the postings. I imagine that many (most?) pen-lers might have voted for Patricia Mercado of the Partido Alternativa Social Democrata y Campesino -- if they were magically transformed into life-long Mexican citizens.
[The Party is an electoral alliance of various left formations running quite a gamut, partly the usual international left formations and partly uniquely Mexican ones such as peasant groups and very small ex-PRI figures. Along with the Zapatista "alternative campaign" which was outside the balloting, this Party was the main left expression during the campaign.] Does Julio or anyone else following the coverage feel in a position to give us a sense of how the reaction to her candidacy has gone? Is her nearly 3% considered a positive step forward? How much has she been blamed with being a "spoiler" (Nader-like)? Did the results show her as simply an urban elite phenomena, based on her support for progressive social issues, or did a proportion of her votes come from working class and campesino areas? Paul Julio wrote:
The electoral crisis in Mexico has not been resolved. In fact, judging by yesterday's events, it is metastasizing into a serious political crisis. But before I comment on the recent events, I want to step back a little and look at the big picture. [ More here: http://machete2006.wordpress.com/ ]
