Monday, July 10, 2006
Federal Elections in Mexico 2006: Patricia Mercado and Ralph Nader
(Esta entrada está disponible también en español.)
Social Democratic and Peasant Alternative presidential candidate Patricia Mercado, whose better-than-expected showing in Mexico's July 2 federal election may have cost Andrés Manuel López Obrador the presidency, scored yet another parallel with U.S. political activist Ralph Nader, whose 2000 presidential run as Green Party candidate probably - and similarly - cost Al Gore the White House: like Nader in the 2000 U.S. election, she obtained 2.7% of vote for president.
But the parallel ends there. By polling less than five percent of the vote, the U.S. Green Party failed to qualify for federal public funding. However, by obtaining more than two percent of the vote, Mercado retained her party's registration (electoral franchise). Moreover, under Mexico's mixed electoral system, her party received four seats (out of 500) in the Chamber of Deputies with 2.1% of the vote, while under the exclusively majoritarian U.S. electoral system, the Greens have yet to win a single seat in Congress.
Social Democratic and Peasant Alternative presidential candidate Patricia Mercado, whose better-than-expected showing in Mexico's July 2 federal election may have cost Andrés Manuel López Obrador the presidency, scored yet another parallel with U.S. political activist Ralph Nader, whose 2000 presidential run as Green Party candidate probably - and similarly - cost Al Gore the White House: like Nader in the 2000 U.S. election, she obtained 2.7% of vote for president.But the parallel ends there. By polling less than five percent of the vote, the U.S. Green Party failed to qualify for federal public funding. However, by obtaining more than two percent of the vote, Mercado retained her party's registration (electoral franchise). Moreover, under Mexico's mixed electoral system, her party received four seats (out of 500) in the Chamber of Deputies with 2.1% of the vote, while under the exclusively majoritarian U.S. electoral system, the Greens have yet to win a single seat in Congress.
