Ruling PRI Party Mulls Tweaking Rules for Upcoming Presidential Election Dave Graham - Reuters
go to original July 14, 2017

While the bylaws of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, are permissive, it will have to decide in a national assembly ending in mid-August whether to use non-PRI aspirants in the July 2018 general election, party President Enrique Ochoa said in an interview at Bloomberg’s offices in Mexico City. (Bloomberg)

Mexico's ruling party is weighing changes to its internal rules that could broaden its base of candidates for the 2018 presidential election, a senior official said, potentially opening the door to outsiders less tainted by scandal.

Polls show President Enrique Pena Nieto's centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) faces a struggle to fend off rivals from left and right, especially the challenge of two-time presidential runner-up Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Corruption scandals, rising gang violence and anemic growth have damaged the PRI's credibility and battered Pena Nieto's authority, prompting some in the party to argue it must look beyond the membership if it wants to hold on to power.

High on the list of potential options is Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade, who has held most of the top jobs outside the presidency under two rival administrations.

PRI Secretary General Claudia Ruiz Massieu said the party would decide in an assembly next month whether to change rules that could allow the likes of Meade to participate, praising him and other possible runners as exemplary public servants.

"There's no doubt he's someone with many of the attributes that could come together in a potential candidate flying the flag for the PRI," she said in an interview late on Thursday.

Read the rest at Yahoo! News

Related: Mexico's 2018 Election Is Shaping Up as a Vote for Economic Freedom from the U.S (Marketplace)
 

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