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The PAN, PRI, PRD member, Bertha Xóchitl Gálvez Ruiz, was the weakest opposition candidate in Mexico in recent decades.
The results of the historic electoral process on June 2, allowed for a "complete bandwagon" for the political Coalition Let's Keep Making History, made up of the Morena, Green Ecologist of Mexico and Labor parties, and headed by the first next president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo.
With figures from the District Computation of the 2023-2024 Electoral Process of the National Electoral Institute (INE), the Virtual president, Sheinbaum Pardo, obtained a total of 35 million 924 thousand 519 votes, which represent 59.75 percent of the total vote (surpassing by several million votes, the also historic figure obtained by the outgoing president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, in 2018).
In a distant second place was the candidate Gálvez Ruiz, who barely reached 16 million 502 thousand 697 votes, which represent 27.45 percent of the total electoral result.
The young candidate of the Citizen Movement Party, Jorge Álvarez Máynez, received a vote of 6 million 204 thousand 710 votes, that is, 10.32 percent of the Mexican vote.
For those of us who closely follow the electoral campaigns and the electoral process itself, it was no surprise that the "Plan C" project could be consolidated, as the strategy was called so that the Let's Keep Making History Coalition would obtain the majority in the Executive and Legislative Branch.
It is clear that the size of the vote is the commitment and obligation of the elected authorities to respond to the people of Mexico. For those who live in that country and the millions of compatriots who live in the United States, although the immigration issue is a separate matter.
One of the reasons, in my opinion, why the so-called Mexican opposition, made up of formerly enemy and rival parties, obtained terrible results, was the same combination itself. When a Mexican citizen was going to imagine the PRI and the PAN together to obtain electoral positions. When they were going to imagine the PRD teaming up with the PRIAN to nominate candidates.
The Strength and Heart Coalition for Mexico, which nominated Gálvez Ruiz, was unnatural, unthinkable for Mexicans a little less than 20 years ago. It was like putting oil and water together, putting those three political forces in the same bag and nominating the "weakest rival."
Since June 12, 2023, the date on which the senator and former head of the defunct National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples, (a position she held during the Federal Government of Vicente Fox Quesada, between 2000 and 2006), He appeared at the doors of the National Palace to try to personally confront President López Obrador, his fate was cast.
It was López Obrador himself who put it on the national stage, it was López Obrador himself who made many Mexican politicians believe that there really was an underlying dispute between López and Gálvez, which there was all the time, it was an intention to position to the former delegation head of Miguel Hidalgo, as a candidate, so that Sheinbaum Pardo could also appear as a candidate.
President López Obrador promoted the candidacy of two women. One of his team and one, who, at the time, sought all possible prominence. Only Claudia came to power.
The PRI, PAN and PRD did not learn from their electoral defeat in 2018. Although in that year the political alliances were composed differently, the PAN with the PRD, the PRI with the PVEM and Movimiento Ciudadano, agreements between them could already be seen coming. political entities that in the past were antagonistic and that could not be conceived of participating together in an election.
The shadow of the stories of the national leaders of the PRI, Rafael Alejandro Moreno Cárdenas, questioned former governor of Campeche, as well as the leader of the PAN, Marko Antonio Cortés Mendoza, also made a dent in Gálvez Ruiz's campaign. Due to the shady pasts of the party leaders, that famous phrase "don't help me, buddy" could very easily be applied.
The figure of Gálvez Ruiz never fit. He made many mistakes. Failures in his speeches, poor image management, lack of proposals, in the three presidential debates he dedicated himself to attacking what he knew was the most advantageous competitor, that is, Claudia, whom he apparently saw even in the soup, because she did not He stopped mentioning his name, to disqualify, at every opportunity.
But why was Gálvez Ruiz the weakest candidate? It must be remembered that, in the internal process of selecting a presidential candidate, in this case, a candidate, the PRI, PAN and PRD simulated an internal process in which Gálvez Ruiz and an old-school Mexican politician, a red-blooded PRI member, participated. , Beatriz Paredes Rangel, former governor of Tlaxcala, former national president of the PRI, former federal deputy and current senator, among other positions.
Paredes Rangel's burden, without a doubt, was his long PRI career, at a time when the Mexican electorate has been rejecting the traditional parties, namely PRI, PAN or PRD, however, that point does not mean that it is not an issue. of a prominent Mexican politician, who could have given a greater fight to the candidate of Morena, PVEM and PT, although it was not going to be enough for them to win, she could have exercised a better counterweight.
They simulated an internal process, through the famous finger they decided on Xóchitl Gálvez and put her on the ship that would not reach a safe port.
It is only enough to do a brief comparison exercise between Xóchitl Gálvez and Claudia Sheinbaum. One comes from an unremarkable career, in which even her academic preparation was questioned; as a federal legislator, important legislative proposals did not transcend and during her time as delegation head, there was talk of mismanagement.
Claudia Sheinbaum is a woman of science. Prepared, even, a former student of the prestigious Stanford University, in California. With a career in academia and in important elected positions, such as having governed one of the largest cities in the world. There have been accusations against her and she has come out to clarify and deny.
But to this panorama, we must add that the opposition in Mexico made up of the previously antagonistic parties; PRI, PAN and PRD never listened to the electorate. The campaign was so disorganized that there were complaints about the lack of resources being used to promote the image of Xóchitl Gálvez. There are accusations against the party leaders, at least from the PRI and the PAN, that the campaign money was used for other things, those resources would have been diverted.
The opposition dedicated itself, as before, to disqualifying the López Obrador government, to criticizing the social programs that were promoted, such as: support for the elderly, student scholarships, and the elimination of intermediaries to deliver the support. governmental.
The people realized that unlike what the PRI governments said, for more than 80 years and the 12 years of the PAN, that, if there were resources to support the most needy classes, what happened was that all those resources were in the very bulging bank accounts of the politicians in power.
The Mexican people became involved in political life. He was taught that his vote counts and that currently elections do not work like before, where people were not going to vote because "we already know that the same people as always are going to win."
Even Mexicans living abroad approached consulates and embassies in several countries like never before to try to exercise their vote.
From October 1st, the day on which Claudia Sheinbaum will assume power, Mexico is heading towards having a woman in the position of President of the Republic. For the first time in 200 years of political life in that country.
Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo will govern Mexico from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2030.
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