Mexico's Pena Nieto, Seeking Wide Reforms, Wants to Limit Power of Governors Tim Johnson - McClatchy
go to original May 19, 2013

MEXICO CITY — Barely a quarter-century ago, Mexico’s all-powerful presidents could run any of the nation’s 31 governors out of office at will. Then the pendulum began to swing. In the last decade, the power of governors grew to such levels that they became known by the moniker “little viceroys.”

Now the pendulum is swinging again, with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and his political party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, pressing several initiatives designed to cut the power of governors.

One, adopted in November, forces state and municipal governments to reveal more details of how they spend their money.

A second initiative, under discussion last week, would affect state elections, which historically have been manipulated by governors who control the voting apparatus in each state. Under the proposal, state elections would be run by the federal electoral institute, not the states.

“The president has the governors on the run,” said Joy Langston Hawkes, a political scientist at the Center for Research and Teaching of Economics, a Mexico City think tank.

Read the rest at adn.com

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!