Andrés Manuel López Obrador during the morning conference at the National Palace.Moisés Pablo (CUARTOSCURO)
The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has described as "comedy" and "farce" the appointment of Senator Xóchitl Gálvez as the opposition's presidential candidate. The president recalled that for several weeks he had advanced that Galvez would finally be the standard-bearer, according to a pact of the party leaders of the Broad Front for Mexico with businessman Claudio X. González and a group of intellectuals. "I won the bet, do not go to say that I did not know what it was, you have to recognize it," López Obrador said Thursday in his daily conference. "What happens when they impose someone from above? He is at the service of those at the top, of those who imposed the president, he is an employee, that's why the best thing is democracy, always. And what we saw now, a comedy, a farce, was a little complicated for them, because they thought that with the advertising the balloon was going to be inflated, they could even lose, and they began to operate, "he added.
López Obrador has claimed that the internal process of the Front, in which several contenders registered and which consisted of debates, polls and primary elections, has finally been a simulation. Initially, 13 participants were in the race for the candidacy, but they were declining; the last to do so, yesterday, was PRI Senator Beatriz Paredes. "They started operating in that sense. It is called, in the jargon of politicking, to lower them; They started taking them all down, they took them down. It's unfortunate, because it's a cupular matter, upstairs, it's the manager Claudio. Never in history has this been seen so clear, so blatant, because they did not even finish their process, but it was pure decline. I told them, there are votes that count and there are votes that weigh," said the president.
The opposition is still evaluating whether the primary elections scheduled for Sunday between Galvez and Paredes will be held. For López Obrador, that possibility has been more than ruled out, after all the parties of the Broad Front for Mexico – the PAN, the PRI and the PRD – have declared their delivery to the Hidalgo senator. "They're not going to go to the next step anymore. There is already one charged in favor of a lady, "said the president in reference to Galvez. "A golden rule of democracy is not to allow simulation, because that was what hurt Mexico the most, simulation. Even if they get upset, we must continue to insist on democracy and that there are no voters, oligarchs, that it is not those above who decide, those who impose, that it is the people, because that is democracy, "he added.
López Obrador has also deplored the performance of the PRI and its leader, Alejandro Moreno, who for days had hinted at the decline of his candidate, until he consummated it on Wednesday. "A complete disfigurement, the president of the PRI saying: 'No way, Beatriz, they beat us,'" the president said laughing. He has also affirmed that the PRI, the oldest party in Mexico and in which he was a member, "has renounced its principles, its ideals."
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