Ricardo Pascoe Pierce
In the 2024 electoral process in Mexico, two social phenomena were expressed that had never been seen before, much less with the levels of organization they reached. Both expressions of Mexican society entered into contradiction, but they say a lot about the role of politics, the economy, and elections in Mexico’s near future. Their contradictions center on radically different visions about the future projected for the country.
The first expression, which I will briefly mention here because I will analyze it in another article, refers to the massive vote in favor of Morena by the social bloc of the beneficiaries of social programs. According to exit polls, about 70% of the beneficiaries voted in favor of the official party. All analyses indicate that handing over 12,000 pesos in January, before the elections, was decisive in capturing this support. Being able to capture millions of votes with fiscal money speaks not only of the mood of an essential segment of the population but also of the future of public budgets, given that the new government promised to expand and enlarge these same supports to retain its vote bag.
The second social expression was the Marea Rosa (Pink Tide). At the call of a handful of citizens’ organizations, large contingents of citizens mobilized in the 32 states of the country. At first, the mobilizations were supported mainly by the middle classes. However, as time went by, their mobilizations became multi-class, as well as with representation from the countryside and the city.
The important thing is that all the calls revolved around purely political causes and demands. The first major demonstration of the Pink Tide was held to defend the National Electoral Institute (INE) and its independence from the government and political parties. As the political debate was ignited by the actions of the President of the Republic, his attacks on the autonomy and independence of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) grew aggressively. The second call of the Pink Tide was to defend the institutionality and independence of the SCJN. The number of attendees to the second mobilization grew notoriously.
The third call, thought to be the last one before the elections, was in defense of the freedom to vote, given the number of stories circulating about official pressures on voters, especially on the beneficiaries of social programs.
However, given the circumstances of electoral polarization, especially due to the President of the Republic’s illegal interventionism in the process, another mobilization was called days before the voting, which was the most political because the movement was in favor of Xóchitl Gálvez’s candidacy.
With the results in hand, Marea Rosa and its various member organizations are evaluating what steps to take next without sacrificing what has been achieved in terms of genuinely independent citizen expression and freedom from government control.
Form a party or continue as citizen organizations without a political program? That is the question on everyone’s mind. Several citizens’ organizations are hesitant about the idea of a political party, as they do not want to be trapped again in the intentions of political operators. The distrust towards political parties sustains this perspective, and the spectacle offered by PRI, PAN, and PRD does not disprove them. On the contrary.
However, if citizen groups are going to articulate themselves politically, they will need some political vehicle to do so electorally. The Mexican political system is party-based despite its deformities. Elected authorities emerge from elections with candidates nominated by political parties.
So far, only the National Civic Front has publicly expressed its intention to create a center party capable of capturing the right, left, and center and upholding democratic, constitutional, and libertarian causes rather than raising an exclusionary ideological platform.
It would be appropriate for all the citizen groups of the Pink Tide to call for a great national dialogue to agree on a common strategic vision. Under this vision, independently of the path chosen by each organization (party or organizational autonomy), they could continue their collaboration under the great umbrella that has been, and should continue to be, the Pink Tide.
[email protected]
@rpascoep
Further Reading: