LatinNews Daily Report - 25 June 2012

POLITICS | Peña Nieto heads into the final strait.  On 24 June, a week ahead of the 1 July election, the leading presidential candidate, Enrique Peña Nieto, held his first (and only) mass rally in the Azteca soccer stadium in the south of Mexico City, which appeared nigh on full to its 105,000-capacity after the traditional Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) bussed in thousands of supporters from the surrounding Estado de México (governed by Peña Nieto until last year). The man the PRI hopes will return the party to office after 12 years in the wilderness reassured the crowd that his victory represents progress and not a step backwards. “We know how to govern democratically” he declared, “I am part of a generation that has grown up under democracy”. A majority of polls give Peña Nieto a lead of at least 10 percentage points over his leftist rival, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Obrador and his supporters believe the polls are biased in favour of Peña Nieto and understate the strength of the anti-PRI vote, which is being led by a student movement. However, Mexico’s presidential election is decided in a single round by simple majority (50% plus one of valid votes), meaning that Peña Nieto looks to have a comfortable margin ahead as the campaign closes.

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