MEXICO'S RULING PRI TAKES ANOTHER HIT AS SENATE FACTION ISSUES WARNING


Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit


    Copyright 1997 by Agence France-Presse
    Sun, 21 Sep 1997 11:10:39 PDT

   MEXICO CITY, Sept 21 (AFP) - Still shaken by the loss of its
House of Deputies majority, Mexico's ruling Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI) took another hit Sunday as 14 senators
announced a splinter group that could put the party's Senate lock in
doubt.
   Members of the Galileo group released a statement on the
country's new political landscape, saying they did not accept
top-down party authoritarianism and would not simply serve as a
containing wall against the newly unpredictable lower House.
   The PRI, which has controlled politics on the national level
since 1929 lost its full control on legislative power in a July 6
midterm vote.
   The four principal opposition parties -- known as the "Group of
Four" -- together won 261 deputies to the PRI's 239, which also
forced the ruling party to cede the presidency of the chamber to its
political foes.
   In the Senate, the PRI held on to a majority of 77 seats against
51 for opposition parties, a balance which could be upset if the
Galileo Group is not appeased.
   "It is no longer acceptable to keep making the internal unity
and cohesiveness of our congressional (PRI) group the only, or the
main political principle of greater hierarchy determining how we act
as senators," the statement read in part.
   Galileo Group members specifically have asked that the PRI
delegates in the lower House be allowed to take part in mapping
overall party strategy, and that important party decisions be made
by consensus, based on full and accurate information.
   The splinter group also said it would seek unity among its
members, but respect any decision they might make not to toe the
party line in voting.
   There was no immediate reaction from new PRI party chairman
Mariano Palacios, who took up the post just over two weeks ago.

 
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