The Week in Review: 1/9/2012

Katie Putnam, The Mexico Institute’s Elections Guide, 1/9/2012

Happy New Year and welcome to the election year! In recent weeks, electoral laws limited campaigning for “candidates únicos” Enrique Peña Nieto and Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The PAN announced plans for candidate debates and frontrunner Josefina Vázquez Mota suggests boosting private investment in Pemex. Andrés Manuel López Obrador (PRD) released his intended cabinet appointments, as his party fielded a wide array of contenders for the Mexico City mayoral race. The PRI faced the reversal of its November victory in the Morelia mayoral election.

Oil reform and the presidential contenders

Katie Putnam, The Mexico Institute’s Elections Guide, 1/6/2012

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has published a new piece by Duncan Wood on the presidential candidates and the potential for oil reform in Mexico:

Since Enrique Peña Nieto (EPN) announced in November of 2011 that he would seek a full scale oil reform to allow Pemex to follow a Petrobras-like business model, the issue has become one of the most talked about themes in the campaign for the July 2012 elections. Peña Nieto’s call for a change in Mexico’s legislation to allow Pemex to work more freely with the private sector has spurred the other leading candidates to formulate their own ideas on the future of the Mexican oil industry. Josefina Vázquez Mota, the leading contender for the PAN presidential nomination, having immediately echoed EPN’s sentiments about the need for reform, last week began to elaborate on her plans for Pemex.

The Week in Review: 11/21/2011

Katie Putnam, The Mexico Institute’s Elections Guide, 11/21/2011

The PRD selects Andrés Manuel López Obrador as its official candidate, who will lead a now united left. The PRI’s leading contender Enrique Peña Nieto announces his intention to open Pemex to more private investment, and the PAN’s Ernesto Cordero releases a six-point agenda.

The Week in Review: 10/17/2011

Katie Putnam, The Mexico Institute’s Elections Guide, 10/17/2011

López Obrador

Candidates have begun to specify their policy agendas: Andrés Manuel López Obrador (PRD) unveiled his security, economic, and social philosophy in Washington, DC at the Mexico Institute this week, Enrique Peña Nieto (PRI) released a ten-point economic plan; and President Felipe Calderón (PAN) made controversial statements to the press about security. Josefina Vázquez Mota (PAN) will speak at a Mexico Institute and Inter-American Dialogue event on Friday, October 21st, and several prominent politicians and academics advocated forming a coalition government after the 2012 elections to end Mexico’s political gridlock.