Politics: PRI Electoral Dilemmas
The PRI’s recent celebration of its 88th anniversary embodied all the organization’s existential woes as it heads into a crucial showdown in the State of Mexico and prepares for the 2018 presidential elections. One of the most uninspired, disorganized and poorly attended on record, the event failed to smooth over mounting internal conflicts. But perhaps most troublingly, President Enrique Peña’s keynote speech failed to deliver the sort of tone and core message capable of rousing the base as well as appealing to a broader electorate alienated by the party’s seemingly never ending corruption scandals, the failure of official policies to deliver promised benefits, and a series of notable policy missteps. No self criticism nor convincing words for a country troubled by an uncertain international scenario and a deteriorating economic outlook.
Instead, President Peña served up tired boilerplate with calls for loyalty and discipline alongside attacks on the opposition as a threat to the country. In short, the plan is simply to double down by fully activating the party’s unrivaled electoral machine and access to public resources while exploiting points of weakness in rival parties and a fragmentation of the opposition vote in the hopes of getting by with possibly less than 30% of the vote. A highly risky bet.
And rather than bringing aboard the PRI’s many valuable and highly experienced politicians capable of refreshing the party’s deteriorated image, and providing new ideas and strategies to reposition it in the eyes of voters, all but the existing team were pushed to sidelines.
Even as the country enters a particularly fragile period that conjures images of end-of-administration financial crises of past decades, President Peña has reasserted his role as supreme party leader, but by failing to address his dismal ratings he remains a political hazard that could help derail the PRI’s chances this year and it being turned out of office nationally for only the second time, possibly ending its standing as the country’s preeminent political power.
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