Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Mexico’s Largest Leftist Party Elects New Chairman

10/7/2014


MEXICO CITY – Carlos Navarrete was elected on Sunday to be the new chairman of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), Mexico’s third-largest political party.

Navarrete, who will serve a three-year term, replaces Jesus Zambrano, the PRD said in a statement.

Navarrete and Hector Bautista, who was elected secretary-general, received the backing of 259 members, or 73 percent, of the PRD’s National Council.

The two beat out Carlos Sotelo and Gilberto Ensastiga, who received only 28 votes after the Nueva Izquierda faction won the Sept. 7 party elections.

Some 1.8 million PRD members, or 40 percent of the total membership, participated in last month’s vote, which was organized by the National Electoral Institute (INE).

The door is open to dialogue and reaching agreements to strengthen party unity and make inroads among the electorate in the 2015 midterm elections, Navarrete said.

“The party needs to get closer to its electorate, to consolidate ourselves as the country’s best opposition and spearhead the people’s demands,” Navarrete, who is from the central state of Guanajuato, said.

One of the PRD’s main challenges is carrying out its proposed referendum on Mexico’s oil industry reforms, which were approved in December 2013 and opened the way for private investment in the sector following more than seven decades of state control.

The governing Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) pushed for the oil industry overhaul, which ended the 75-year monopoly over the energy industry enjoyed by state-owned oil company Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex).

The PRD and its allies vehemently oppose the energy industry overhaul, calling it unconstitutional.

Navarrete, who entered politics at the age of 20, has served as a state legislator in Guanajuato, a member of the lower house of Mexico’s Congress and a senator.

He was named Federal District transportation secretary in 2012, stepping down from that post last October to travel across the country and build support for his bid to lead the party.

The veteran politician has also held various leadership posts in the PRD, serving as a state party chairman and national secretary-general.


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