Mexico: Conservatives Back Woman Presidential Candidate
Josefina Vazquez Mota (C), presidential hopeful from Mexico’s ruling conservative National Action Party (PAN), greets supporters after casting her ballot
Voters from Mexico’s ruling conservative party selected their first woman presidential candidate on Sunday, choosing a former education minister to battle the opposition’s nominee, who has a big lead in the polls.
National Action Party (PAN) voters threw their support behind former party congressional leader Josefina Vazquez Mota, pushing aside Ernesto Cordero, a close ally of President Felipe Calderon, reports Reuters.
Jose Espina, who organized the vote, announced Vazquez Mota was ahead with 55 percent support with around 87 percent of the votes counted, more than enough to secure the party nomination. Cordero came in second with 38 percent.
National polls show Vasquez Mota is the PAN’s best chance against Enrique Pena Nieto from Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which ruled Mexico for most of the last century, but she trails him by 20 percentage points.
“Today we end a primary and start a new journey, a journey to defeat the real adversary of Mexico, who represents authoritarianism and the worst anti-democratic practices, who represents the return to a corrupt system,” Vazquez Mota said before a cheering crowd of supporters at her victory party.
“This adversary is Pena Nieto and his party,” she said, flanked by her primary opponents, who pledged their support.
The PAN is the last party to pick its candidate before the July 1 presidential election. The PRI dispensed with a primary and left-wing parties chose Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is third in polls even though he nearly won the 2006 presidential contest.
Vazquez Mota’s victory over Cordero is an upset for the party bosses who often have the final say in choosing candidates.
Former interior minister Santiago Creel, who was third in the primary race with 6 percent, lost in the 2006 primary after Calderon rallied the party machine in his favor.
Calderon’s supporters threw their weight behind Cordero to drum up votes for him.
But Vazquez Mota, who would be Mexico’s first female president if she wins, gained steam with the backing of lawmakers she led through Congress. Rising popular support made her the favorite for grassroots party supporters.
“I voted for Josefina. Men have made a lot of mistakes in government, so let’s see what the women can do,” said retiree Joaquin Cervantes, casting his vote at a polling station.
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