Political Campaigns Start Tomorrow in Guerrero
(Acapulco, AN 1 November) Curiously, on the very day that most Americans are going to the polls to end one of the most acrid political seasons in modern history, in Acapulco, the race will formally begin. Old-style, “bandwagon” politics is the order of business, with lots of rallies, music, political promises and, of course, accusations and denigrations of the opponent. Given the primitive level of political understanding of the vast majority of voters, policies and ideologies will take a back seat to personalities and hype.
The campaigns for the Guerrero statehouse will end on January 26, 2011, making the campaign “season” a mercifully short 84 days. The PRI candidate, Manuel Añorve Baños, uses the slogan “Better Times for Guerrero.” The coalition includes two minor parties, PVEM (green party) and Panal. His only real contender, Ángel Aguirre Rivero, is a former PRI legislator who left the party because he sensed he could not have his party’s nomination. He was embraced by the opposition PRD, which has formed a coalition with Convergencia and the Workers’ Party. Their banner is “Guerrero Unites Us.” Ex-mayor of Taxco, Marco Efrén Parra Gómez, is running on the PAN ticket. This is the ultra-conservative party of current President Felipe Calderón. Like most right-wing third party candidates, he is expected to garner a few votes, but not be decisive in the election, not even as a “spoiler” for Añorve and the PRI, who are early favorites to prevail. Four other candidates have registered to be on the ticket.
The importance of the “official” opening of campaign season is that each candidate is now entitled to spend just under $52 million pesos during the next 84 days. Only half of the amount is available now. The remainder is released half-way through. An additional $33 million pesos may optionally be raised by each party from private sources. Just like the US, these private sources can be just about anyone, without individual donation limits, and no requirement to identify themselves. The global spending limit is monitored by the Federal Elections Institute through an audit of the parties’ expenditures.
The current governor, Zeferino Torreblanca Galindo, has offered to each of the three major candidates an armor-plated automobile for his protection, as well as police escorts and bodyguards.
Añorve will begin his campaign tomorrow in Tixtla, placing flowers at the base of the statue of General Vicente Guerrero, and then will proceed to Acapulco for an official opening. His opponent, Aguirre, will begin in the small town of Teloloapan in the northern part of the state. Parra will kick-off his run for the statehouse in his home town of Taxco.
