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| THE END OF "EL DEDAZO" | |
 November 8, 1999 
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With the first the Institutional Revolutionary Party primary election now a part of history, the decades-old practice of "el dedazo" -- the presidential appointment of the party's next nominee -- has ended. |
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For 70 years, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, has controlled the Mexican presidency as well as much of the government. Despite years of electoral domination and allegations of fraud and corruption, PRI voters had never taken part in the nomination of their party's presidential contender. Instead, until this year, nominees were selected under a system called "el dedazo" -- known as "the big finger" or "the fingering of the candidate." The term is symbolic, referring to the party's tradition of allowing the incumbent president to appoint the party's nominee, though critics contend the practice amounts to nothing more than anointing a political heir. President Ernesto Zedillo received the "dedazo" from former President Carlos Salinas after the party's first 1994 candidate, Luís Donaldo Colosio, was murdered on the campaign trail. At the time, many PRI loyalists considered Zedillo -- a Yale-educated economist and awkward public speaker -- ill-prepared for the candidacy. News reports described Zedillo as "wooden" and "overwhelmed" by the sudden responsibility. Plus, he soon faced a challenge from Democratic Revolutionary Party candidate, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, who in 1988 broke away from the PRI to form the new party. Zedillo earned the nomination and, amid further allegations of party corruption, later managed to win the election and keep the world's longest-ruling party safely in Los Pinos, the Mexican presidential executive mansion. Five years into his term, however, Zedillo announced he would not choose a successor, thereby ending the practice of "dedazo." Public opinion had shifted to support a primary election instead of an "insiders" selection process. Party leaders organized the November 7 primary election to pick the PRI nominee for the 2000 election, the first primary of its kind in party history. With four candidates slated, political analysts have said the primary signals the breakdown of an old regime. Even the party president, José Antonio Gonzales Fernandez, chosen by Zedillo, publicly called the old system "traumatic" and "conflictive" during a party speech. "Now the name of the man or woman who will be the PRI's presidential candidate will no longer come out of the president's office," Gonzalez said during the speech. "I don't expect, as party leader, to receive a telephone call with the name of somebody who is the designated candidate." Cárdenas, the former mayor of Mexico City, is running again as the PRD candidate. Cárdenas, though, hopes to use the popularity of his father, Lázaro Cárdenas, also a former president, to his advantage. The National Action Party has Vicente Fox Quesada representing its traditionally pro-business, pro-Catholic platform. Fox is a former president of Coca-Cola's division in Mexico. News reports indicate that if the PRD and National Action Party cannot form an electoral alliance, they might not generate enough support to topple the PRI. With order restored in the flooded regions of southern Mexico, election officials assured voters the balloting would take place nationwide and untainted by corruption. The winner -- and PRI presidential nominee -- will be sworn in as party candidate on November 20 and begin campaigning for the election scheduled for July 2, 2000. |
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