Governing Party Finally Elects Presidential Candidate
The National Action Party, which currently rules Mexico, is taking a bold step to ensure re-election by choosing a female presidential candidate. It is the first time a female candidate has been put forward in a Mexican presidential race. Josefina Nazquez Mota is a charismatic former congresswoman who has vowed to help reunite the party after the recent bloody drug war in the region. Mota beat out two other male candidates to take the nomination, which has caused somewhat of a stir with the party’s bosses.
Current polls have the Institutional Revolutionary Party in the lead going into the next election, which forced the National Action Party to make big changes. IRP candidate Enrique Pena Nieto, former Mexico state Governor, is the front runner at the moment and the party hopes to end the 12-year control of the NAP. Since 2000, the NAP has been the ruling party in Mexico, having ended the 71-year reign of the IRP. If successful, the 51-year old Mota will be the first female president in the history of the country. The NAP’s selection finalizes the runners for the 2012 elections, which will take place in early July. Mexico’s other political parties have already settled on their candidates.