Politics: PAN at a crossroads for defining its identity and consolidating its voter support
The PAN is now Mexico’s main opposition party. It has displaced the PRI, which in the June 6 mid-term elections lost all eight of the gubernatorial races in states it governed and has now dropped to third place among the country’s political parties.
The PAN’s strong ideological and programmatic differences with Morena currently make it a likely option to attract the middle classes’ rejection of López Obrador and the 4T. Nevertheless, the party’s fortunes have fallen. Although it maintains its strongholds in the Bajío region in central Mexico and other states, at the national level it has seen its support at the polls decline, and its vote is currently at 18%, down from 43% in 2000.
The institutionalization of the party and its current leadership practices have drawn the ire of many discontented members. They charge that the party has strayed from its course and is led by an undemocratic clique. By losing its identity and its own political culture, they charge, the PAN is turning into a party with no soul and no purpose. The dissident members, which include former PAN governors and legislators, are demanding an audit of the membership rolls, a return to the practice of holding membership assembles, new leadership elections, and a complete overhaul. So far, Party President Marko Cortés, whose three-year term ends in November, has not responded to the dissidents' manifesto or issued a call for new leadership elections.
Without an internal renewal, the PAN it is not a threat to Morena. Indeed, if criticisms of the party’s performance in office and internal functioning are not addressed, there is a risk of paralysis of the party, or even a split.
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