Roberto Campa Cifriá
Who is Roberto Campa Cifrián?
He is the presidential candidate for the Partido Nueva Alianza, a new political party, funded by Latin America's biggest trade union, the Sindicate Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación
(SNTE) and dominated by the prominent dissident member of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional, Elba Esther Gordillo.
Why watch him?
He is a surprise, but very intelligent choice, as the Nueva Alianza's candidate. He was a Priísta for 28 years before resigning at the end of 2005. He was one of the handful (seven) Priísta deputies to vote in congress against the shabby deal between the controversial PRI leader, Roberto Madrazo and the government of President Vicente Fox Quesada. The Madrazo-Fox deal was struck to try to knock Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the favourite to win the presidential elections, out of the race by prosecuting him for what was, at best, a technical contempt of court. After leaving the PRI, Campa said kind things about López Obrador and had generally been expected to join López Obrdaor's party, the Partido de la Revolución Democrática.
Born: 1957
Place of Birth: Mexico City
Educated: Law graduate from the Universidad Anáhuac.
Public Life
He served in the Mexico City administration when the city was run as a government department with the mayor appointed and answerable to the president, rather than as now,
being directly elected. He has served two terms as a federal deputy. He was also spokesman for the dissident wing of the Partido Revolucionario Institucional, the Unidad Nacional (better known as Todos Unidos Contra Madrazo) which eventually picked Arturo Montiel to run against Madrazo for the presidential nomination. Campa resigned from the PRI following a dirty tricks campaign, probably instigated by Madrazo, which forced Montiel out of the running, leaving the PRI leader facing only a no-hoper.
Timeline
1982 to 1984: Director of economic planning for the Distrito Federal (DF)
1984 to 1988: Head of planning committee for the DF
1990: Senior PRI official in the DF
1991: Number two in the PRI in the DF
1991 to 1994: Member of the DF assembly
1994 to 1997: Federal deputy and president of PRI in the DF
1997 to 1999: Procurador del Consumidor (ie the legal official responsible for upholding consumer rights
1999: Prospective PRI candidate for mayor of Mexico City. Jesús Silva Herzog won the nomination but polled only 22% of the votes cast
2003 to 2006: Federal deputy
November 2005: Resigns from the PRI, but remains a deputy
Strengths
He is independent, knows everyone in the PRI and is backed by the wealth and influence of the SNTE. He himself has a reputation for honesty, unlike many in the PRI.
Weaknesses
He is very close to Elba Esther Gordillo, who dominates the SNTE and has a dubious political record. Accusations that she had teachers who tried to set up an independent trade union in Michoacán killed hovered over her for 10 years before being dropped for lack of evidence. Gordillo is close to Marta Sahagún, the wife of President Fox, and also to Jorge Castañeda, Fox's first foreign minister. Gordillo loathes Roberto Madrazo, who she claims welshed on their agreement that she would become party president when he became presidential candidate. Madrazo had previously been party president.
Prospects
Campa's nomination, indeed the whole Nueva Alianza, is designed to split Madrazo's vote even further. Although none of the Tucomistas have yet rallied to Campa, they well might. If Madrazo continues to lag in the opinion polls (he is currently a poor third, almost 20 percentage points behind López Obrador and 10 points behind the rightwing candidate, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa), the PRI will split further. What should be worrying for López Obrador is that anti-Madrazo PRI votes that would have gone to him may now go to Campa. If the Madrazo campaign completely implodes, Calderón, just possibly, might win the election as the popular vote splits four ways.