PAN Candidate Quits; Throws Support behind Aguirre

(Acapulco, NA 26 January) Yesterday, with just 5 days to go before the election, Marcos Efrén Parra Gómez announced his withdrawal from the race and appealed to his supporters to back Ángel Aguirre, the candidate of the left-leaning coalition headed by the PRD. Considering that the PAN is a conservative party, the switch to the PRD did not sit well with all of Parra’s supporters. Parra let it be known that political ideology mattered less to his campaign than the quality of leadership offered by his opponents. Apparently he rejected the PRI candidate because the PRI would not commit to work for any of the PAN's political objectives. Many consider the PRI in Guerrero to be without a specific political vision or ideology other than the pragmatism required to take power again.

Candidate Añorve’s reaction to the announcement noted the unusual situation in which both the right and the left have joined in opposition to him: “This alliance is a hideous monstrosity of [conflicting] interests, which only serve to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation [to Aguirre’s campaign]. It confirms to me that I shall be the next governor of the state.”

The revelation was made last night at a press briefing in an Acapulco hotel. Aguirre made the announcement, saying that he had invited Marcos Parra to join with him in the campaign and that he will work towards the proposals made by Parra during his run for the top state office. Parra said that this decision was the most reasonable and practical one to see his policies implemented by the next governor of Guerrero.