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A few things have changed since our last discussion of the Mexican presidential campaign, so here is an update on where we stand in mid-April.

To recap the basics, elections will be held in Mexico on July 1, 2012 for president and mayor of Mexico City, as well as various governorships and Congressional, state and local posts.  Each of the three principal political parties has registered its candidate for the presidency, as follows:

Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI): Enrique Peña Nieto

Partido Acción Nacional (PAN): Josefina Vázquez Mota

Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD): Andrés Manuel López Obrador

Right vs. Left is often in the eye of the beholder, particularly in the case of the PRI, which is both a member of the Socialist International and the party that brought Mexico into the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).  Conventional analysis would probably cast the PAN as the party of the right, the PRI in the center, and the PRD on the left.  For the purposes of the current campaign, we should note that both Peña Nieto and Vázquez Mota have expressed support for considering increased private sector participation in state-run oil and gas monopoly Pemex.  Continue reading Mexico presidential election campaign update →