The Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) is again on the defensive. The post-electoral row over the legitimacy of the victory of the party’s presidential candidate, Enrique Peña Nieto, took a new twist last week when the Partido Acciόn Nacional (PAN) sided with the left-wing coalition Movimiento Progresista (MP) led by Peña Nieto’s defeated rival Andrés Manuel López Obrador to accuse the PRI of using illicit campaign funds.
The PAN, it is important to note, is not throwing its weight behind López Obrador’s legal efforts to invalidate the elections. It still recognises Peña Nieto’s victory. But, the PAN’s decision to cooperate with the MP is a clear shot across the bows of the PRI. The subtext is that the PAN will not just do the PRI’s bidding by backing reforms that Mexico needs without the PRI engaging in some internal reforms to ensure more democratic party-political practices, and that it will not tolerate any form of collusion with organised crime by the PRI.
PAN president Gustavo Madero held a joint press conference with his peer Jesús Zambrano of the Partido de Revoluciόn Democrática (PRD), the senior partner in the MP, on 19 July. He argued that there was “strong and conclusive evidence” that illicit funds had been used by the PRI in the elections. Zambrano alleged the “triangulation” of money through front companies to fund Peña Nieto’s campaign, suggesting money laundering. Both leaders insisted that the Instituto Federal Electoral (IFE) investigate whether these were used to purchase some M$108m (US$8.2m) worth of pre-paid debit cards, disbursed among voters, to conceal the origin of the money. They also called for a probe by the attorney general’s office (PGR). The PRI conceded that some US$5m of funds had been paid to “local party operatives” through debit cards from the Mexican bank Monex, but insisted this was separate from campaign spending.
On 20 July López Obrador presented a ‘plan for the defence of democracy and dignity’ in Mexico, calling for the public to contribute evidence to invalidate the elections and prevent the installation of “a market republic where money resolves everything”. He accused the IFE of “turning a blind eye” to “very serious violations” and promised to erect informative stands in squares across the country between 29 July and 5 August to explain how the PRI bought 5m votes. “Yo soy 132”, a student movement that sprang up during the campaign to oppose Peña Nieto’s candidacy, staged a “nationwide mega-march against the imposition (of Peña Nieto)” on 22 July, with 15,000 people marching in central Mexico City. Promising more marches, the movement’s leadership warned of “a serious risk of social explosions” if Peña Nieto takes office on 1 December.
Starting to feel the heat, and concerned about potentially irrevocable damage to the legitimacy of Peña Nieto’s future presidency, the PRI launched a counter-offensive on 23 July. Jesús Murillo Karam, Peña Nieto’s legal adviser, claimed the MP had concealed the origin and destination of M$1.2bn (US$88m) of campaign funds, exceeding spending limits. PRI president Pedro Joaquín Coldwell called on the IFE to investigate the “triangulation of resources” by the MP through civil associations such as Honestidad Valiente. He said these had functioned as “parallel structures” to enable the MP to divert public funds to López Obrador’s campaign.
Coldwell insisted the allegations were “serious”, although the use of exactly the same terminology employed by the MP in its attacks on the PRI somewhat undermined his assertion. The MP dismissed the allegation as old and groundless.
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