Thanks to a rigid formula that permitted few back-and-forth exchanges, the second Jalisco gubernatorial debate provided little drama for a modest television audience at the inhospitable hour of 10 a.m. on Sunday, June 10.
Held at Expo Guadalajara prior to the evening’s presidential debate (see page 1), the face-off between the five contenders for governor of Jalisco only sparked into life when the three main candidates – Aristoteles Sandoval of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Enrique Alfaro of the Citizens Movement and Fernando Guzman of the National Action Party (PAN) – went off-script to dish out accusations and insults.
With 38-year-old former Guadalajara mayor Sandoval leading in the polls by a five to 10 percent margin, it might have behooved him to maintain his guard and not be tempted to land any below-the-belt blows.
But he held nothing back, laying into Alfaro for passively overseeing a massive surge in synthetic drug laboratories in Tlajomulco during his time there as mayor. The Citizens Movement candidate quickly hit back, charging Guadalajara authorities of protecting drug producers and dealers and giving out licenses for casinos to be set up in residential areas.Former State Secretary General Guzman berated Sandoval for nixing a second metro area BRT bus line several years ago, accusing him of hypocrisy for now putting the plan on his platform. He also highlighted the poor transparency record of the PRI Guadalajara municipal administration.
All three leading candidates offered not dissimilar proposals regarding improving health infrastructure in the state, judicial reform, a commitment to urban mobility and upgrading the security forces. All also stressed their opposition to the construction of a second aqueduct to transport water from Lake Chapala to the Guadalajara metropolitan area. All promised further legal protections for the Primavera Forest.
While Sandoval often exuded an excess of confidence, Alfaro was the most articulate and defended his corner well under attack from his rivals. Guzman was frequently glib about his proposals, at one point promising to make the state safe in just his first three months in office.