Dozens of political aspirants began campaigns Sunday they hope will lead to a promised land on July 7, when voters in Jalisco go to the polls to elect a full slate of state and federal representatives and 125 mayors.
Political parties have 40 days until February 5 to carry out internal campaigns to choose their candidates for office, a period referred to as precampañas (pre-campaigns). The full campaigns begin in April, running for 60 days until a week before the election.
Although the pre-campaigns are supposed to be internal affairs, the hefty political players vying for the top prizes were quickly out in force on Sunday morning as the starting pistol was fired, looking to garner some early publicity.
The three leading candidates seeking to become the next mayor of Guadalajara all kicked off their campaigns in the city center, before taking to the streets to cajole motorists into allowing their eager supporters to attach promotional stickers on their rear windscreens.
The position of Guadalajara mayor is one of the most sought after in Mexico, and considered the ideal stepping stone to the Jalisco governor’s job. The frontrunner this year surprisingly is not from one of the two established parties, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the National Action Party (PAN). Former Tlajomulco Mayor Enrique Alfaro of the fledgling Citizens Movement (MC) ran second to the PRI’s Aristoteles Sandoval in the 2012 gubernatorial election. He brings with him a large wave of fervent support, and will find plenty of traction from Tapatios tired of the “business as usual” politics offered by the PRI and the PAN over the past two decades.
Alfaro said he will spend the greater part of the pre-campaign “getting to know” the electorate, and present his policies once full campaigning begins in April.
PRI favorite Ricardo Villanueva Lomeli is Sandoval’s closest advisor and a former president of the University of Guadalajara’s student union (FEU). A lawyer and professor, he is considered the best candidate to unite the different segments of the party. He will mostly be forced to campaign on the back of the governor’s record over the past two years, since it has been his hand behind many of the policies.
PAN frontrunner Alfonso Petersen, a doctor and Guadalajara’s mayor from 2007-2009, is seeking to reposition the party in the wake of recent electoral failure and growing disillusionment within its ranks. A popular and likable figure who generally shows the more appealing face of the conservative PAN, his address to around 300 workers on Sunday at the Rotunda of Illustrious Citizens included an unusual apology for mistakes his party had made while governing Guadalajara in the past.