Who Will Be Mexico's Next President? | Presidential Election 2006

On July 2, 2006 Mexico will vote to elect a new president. The most recent polls reveal a virtual tie between
conservative candidate Felipe Calderon, of the National Action Party (PAN,) and leftist candidate Manuel Lopez Obrador,
of the Democratic Revolutionary Party. Roberto Madrazo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the party that
ruled Mexico for seven decades before Vicente Fox became president, follows behind in third place. The polls predict
that the July 2 election will be one of the closest presidential elections in Mexico's history. Two other candidates,
Patricia Mercado and Roberto Campa –both affiliated to small leftist parties– are in fourth and fifth places respectively.

All the major candidates have presented similar political platforms: to stimulate employment, to eradicate corruption,
and to seek an immigration accord. The presidential campaign has had an emphasis on an economic characteristic:
Calderon has the support of Mexico's wealthy minority, while the poor are Obrador’s loyalists. Because of this
phenomenon, it is estimated that the lower and middle-class voters will decide who will be Mexico’s next president.
BARRIOZONA presents a brief profile of each of the three leading candidates, and their plans for the Mexican people.

BIO INFO
Born on August 18, 1962 in the city of
Morelia, Michoacan, in Mexico. He is a
Christian Democrat Mexican politician, and
the presidential candidate of the National
Action Party (PAN). A former president of
his party and former Secretary of Energy in
the cabinet of President Vicente Fox. He
received a bachelor's degree in law from
the Escuela Libre de Derecho in Mexico
City, has a master's degree in economics
from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo
de México (ITAM) and has a master's
degree in public administration from the
Kennedy School of Government at Harvard
University. He was president of his party's
youth movement in his early twenties. He
was also a federal representative in the
Legislative Assembly, and on two different
occasions in the Chamber of Deputies. He
ran for the governorship of Michoacan in
1995 and served as national president of
the PAN from 1996 to 1999. During this
period, his party maintained control of 14
Mexican states capitals. He is married and
has three children.

felipe calderon hinojosa

HE STANDS FOR
Creating jobs is the centerpiece of Felipe Calderon’s political platform.
He vows to extend the president's free-market policies, open up the
energy sector, and fix tax and labor laws, thus creating new jobs. His
campaign presents him as "The President of Employment" and his
slogan is “So that we live better.” He plans on building new refineries,
expanding health care, developing an immigration accord with the
United States, and creating employment and educational opportunities
for the poor.

TRIVIA
He's is the youngest, 43, of all three main
candidates

andres manuel lopez obrador

BIO INFO
Born on November 13, 1953 in
Macuspana, Tabasco. He is a center-left
Mexican politician, and is the presidential
candidate of the Party of the Democratic
Revolution (PRD) He was the Mayor of
Mexico City from 2000 to 2005, position he
resigned to contend in the Presidential
election. He graduated from National
Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)
in 1987 with a major in political and social
sciences. His original party was the
Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)
which he joined in 1976. He was president
of the PRI in his home state of Tabasco.
He resigned his post in 1988 to join the
new dissenting wing of the PRI, called the
Democratic Current, led by Cuauhtémoc
Cárdenas, who also ran for president. This
led to the formation of the Partido de la
Revolución Democrática (PRD). Lopez
Obrador later ran for the governorship of
his home state, losing against Roberto
Madrazo, also a current presidential
candidate. López Obrador was also
president of the PRD from August 2, 1996
to April 10, 1999. He is a widower.

HE STANDS FOR
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador calls for more social spending and
political reforms. He aims to reduce economic inequality. His political
slogan is "For the Good of Everyone – the Poor First." He plans to
ensure macroeconomic stability, and to use progressive fiscal policy to
ameliorate the highly inequitable distribution of income that impedes
strong economic growth. He pledges to promote education as a way to
increase the productivity of human capital. He would implement a social
security program for all citizens over 69 years of age (65 years for the
indigenous population). He has vowed to use subsidies and wage
increases to boost spending power of the poor by 20 percent. He has
pledged new schools, roads, hospitals, oil refineries, improved
electricity, clean water, health subsidies for the poor, pensions for the
elderly as well as scholarships and jobs for the young.

TRIVIA
His nickname is "Peje," after pejelagarto, a
razor-toothed, lizardlike fish from Tabasco,
his home town, that reputedly is difficult to
hook.

roberto madrazo pintado

BIO INFO
Born on July 30, 1952 in Villahermosa,
Tabasco. He is a center-left Mexican
politician, and is the presidential candidate
of the Institutional Revolutionary Party
(PRI.) Madrazo was born into a politically
connected family in Mexico City. He was
orphaned at 17 when his parents died in a
plane crash. Some experts believe the
crash was arranged to kill his father
Carlos Alberto Madrazo Becerra, who was
also a PRI president. Roberto Madrazo
graduated from the National Autonomous
University of Mexico (UNAM) with a
bachelor's degree in law and a masters in
urbanism at the University of California at
Los Angeles. Madrazo is a politician
affiliated to the Institutional Revolutionary
Party (PRI) for the 2006 Mexican
presidential election. He is a former
senator, federal deputy, governor of
Tabasco and president of the PRI. He is
credited for bringing unity to a
disorganized PRI after its historic lost in
the 2000 presidential election. Madrazo
sought control of the PRI by negotiating
agreements with different power groups
within the PRI, and by neutralizing political
adversaries within the party. In Mexico it
is generally accepted that Madrazo
achieved this through the use of ruthless
political tactics. The PRI’s candidate is an
avid runner, and is married to Isabel de la
Parra Trillo.

HE STANDS FOR
Roberto Madrazo does not accept the "neo-liberal model" that has
prevailed in the last decade. He advocates for greater social
developments along regional lines. One of his propositions is to create
a special fund for the betterment of poor southern Mexico. One of his
campaign pledges is to generate nine million jobs in six years and
offer scholarships to low-income students.

TRIVIA
In Mexican slang, the word madrazo is used to describe a strong blow
or jolt. In 2000 Madrazo used the slogan "Dale un madrazo al dedazo"
(or "give a blow to the big finger",) referring to the practice used by
Mexican PRI's presidents to choose their own successor.

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