Mexicans will go to the polls on June 7 to elect all 500 deputies in the lower chamber of Congress as well as several state governors and other local officials. What is at stake in the midterm elections? How will President Enrique Peña Nieto’s popularity, which fell to a new low in March, affect the vote? What will allowing the re-election of legislators, a change Peña Nieto signed into law last year, mean for political representation in Mexico?
Rubén Olmos, managing partner of Global Nexus in Washington: “The June 7 midterm election will be a crucial turning point for President Enrique Peña Nieto’s administration. The magnitude of the election shows the importance of this democratic gathering as more than 2,000 authorities will be chosen at the federal, state and local level, 80 million people are eligible to vote, and 152,512 voting booths will be installed. While the most credible and serious polls show that President Peña Nieto’s popularity has dropped given the recent political scandals, his PRI party is leading the race with 30 percent, followed by the PAN with 27 percent, the PRD with 12 percent, MORENA with 11 percent, PVEM with 10 percent and the smaller political parties with 1 to 3 percent each.
The reality is that overall people see important changes happening in Mexico. Not just the passage of the second generation of economic reforms but important improvements on the security front. Thanks to the political dialogue set forth by Peña Nieto and accepted by the political parties at the beginning of his administration, the political reform, which includes the reelection of legislators and mayors, is now a reality and will help enhance accountability and, most importantly, produce a ‘legislative career’ for the new generation of Mexican politicians.
After the election, President Peña Nieto will officially begin the second and last part of his administration and will need to prove that his government is ready to uphold the rule of law and mitigate corruption, which has become a threat to business, society and economic growth.”
