Mexico President Election Heats Up


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Mexico President Election Heats Up 

By John Rice
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, May 18, 1999; 9:51 p.m. EDT

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- The country's most powerful Cabinet minister announced
his candidacy for Mexico's presidency on Tuesday, entering an
unprecedented open battle for the nomination of the long-governing ruling
party.

Interior Secretary Francisco Labastida's announcement came as a new poll
found that the 70-year hold on power by the Institutional Revolutionary
Party, known as the PRI, faces a major challenge in the July 2000
election, especially if major opposition parties agree to form a coalition
against it.

Labastida's announcement was no surprise. He had earlier said he was
interested in seeking the presidency, and most Mexican newspaper
columnists consider him the favorite of President Ernesto Zedillo. His
post has been a training ground for several past presidents.

But the secretary, in charge of domestic political and security affairs,
delayed a formal announcement until the PRI's decision Monday to hold an
open presidential primary election for the first time in its history. The
decision ended a tradition of having outgoing presidents choose the
nominee. 

In the past, would-be PRI candidates kept silent in public for fear of
offending the president.  This year, Labastida's relatively late entry
already may have hurt him in the polls because other candidates have been
intensively campaigning for months or even years.

A major poll released Tuesday by the Indemerc Louis Harris organization
showed Labastida trailing Tabasco Gov. Roberto Madrazo, accused by critics
of using state funds on his well-produced national television commercials.

The favorite individual candidate among those polled was Guanajuato Gov. 
Vicente Fox of the opposition National Action Party, who has been openly
campaigning for the presidency for two years. 

The early May poll of 4,500 people had a reported margin of error of 2.5
percent.

According to the poll, 24.1 percent said they would vote for Fox; 18.8
percent cited Madrazo, and 18.4 percent mentioned Mexico City Mayor
Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, likely candidate of the leftist Democratic Revolution
Party. Labastida was mentioned by 13.9 percent.

The PRI remained Mexico's most popular party, favored by 40 percent of
those polled.  National Action was favored by 35 percent, and the leftist
Democratic Revolution Party by 21 percent. 

The poll also indicated that a proposed coalition between National Action
and Democratic Revolution would have a strong chance of toppling the PRI.
The two parties have discussed such a union, but face strong ideological
and personal divisions.

(c) Copyright 1999 The Associated Press
 
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