Editor's note:
Patricio Morelos is a political communication consultant.
Political scientist from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Studies and specialist in Government Management from the Camilo José Cela University.
He is currently a Master's student in Political Communication and Strategic Governance at George Washington University.
He is a university professor of the subjects of Political Marketing and Citizenship and Democracy at the Tecnológico de Monterrey.
You can follow him on Twitter @patomorelos.
The views expressed in this column are the author's own.
(CNN Spanish) --
I am convinced that in Mexico, more than there are followers of the right-wing, conservative National Action Party (PAN), there are those who are against the center-right Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).
In other words, between these two traditional Mexican political parties, more than PANism, there is anti-PRIism.
Since we were children, some of us who were born in the last third of the last century and in the first years of the 21st century, were told at home that we had to defeat the PRI, which had governed the country for 70 years.
So it was.
Until a few years ago, power was disputed by the bipartisan PAN and PRI, while the Party of the Democratic Revolution, on the left and more recent than the other two, competed with them in some states, especially in central and southern Mexico. .
Although today's president Andrés Manuel López Obrador told us that the PRI and the PAN belonged to what he called the "mafia of power", the reality is that at the electoral and communication level there was a strong rivalry between the blues (PAN) and red (PRI), as if we were talking about a traditional football classic.
The resounding victory of the Morena party and AMLO in 2018 changed everything: the PRI and the PAN, along with what was left of the PRD, could unite.
Three parties with completely opposite ideologies, which for years accused each other of the worst, were now looking for a way to combine their logos to defeat the president.
The “Va por México” alliance made up of the PRI-PAN-PRD competed for the first time in the 2021 legislative elections and will repeat in 2022 in the gubernatorial elections.
They agreed with AMLO and the results prove it.
The PAN, the PRI and the PRD lost 13 of the 15 governorships that were contested in 2021. As I see it, they did not understand, or did not want to understand that it was not just about criticizing López Obrador, but about explaining to the people why that they were a better option, especially when, in my opinion, the Andrés Manuel phenomenon is due in part to disappointment with the PAN and PRI governments.
And we can discuss for hours who governs better or worse, but the important thing here, understanding that the alliance is maintained at least for the 2022 electoral process, is that if they continue doing and saying the same thing, they may forget what it means to win a choice.
What we would have to ask ourselves is, what is the agenda of the alliance?
what do they defend?
who do they represent?
And the answer, I dare say, could be something like "not allowing Morena and López Obrador to advance."
So far it has come, to reject everything that has to do with the current government.
They haven't told us how they're going to govern: if they'll be PANists on economic issues, they'll be PRD supporters on social issues, or they'll be PRI members on governance issues.
Whether it is a conservative or progressive alliance.
If it is a government alliance or only electoral.
Nor have they told us if the alliance, in the future, will be total or will remain partial.
If it truly represents a project to change Mexico, the alliance parties have to go together throughout the country and not select states depending on their interests.
Imagine that in one state it is said that a plural and inclusive project is being built, but in another state, only a few hours away, they are accused of corruption to win the election.
I think that could happen in Oaxaca and Quintana Roo this year, where the parties will go separately.
Either it's an alliance or it's not an alliance, especially when you have the difficult task of convincing a PAN member to vote for a PRI member or a PRI member to vote for a PAN member.
Not to mention a PRD, who in 2006 pointed to the PRI and the PAN as the culprits of the alleged electoral fraud against AMLO.
Or is the growth of Morena and Movimiento Ciudadano in states that previously ruled by chance?
The PAN-PRI-PRD alliance needs stability.
It has to give certainty to its voters that it is making progress and not threaten to break, as happened a few months ago with the discussion of the Electricity Reform.
And finally, go for your best male and female candidates.
Partisan brands alone are not strong enough to win elections.
They need known men and women, with leadership, who can add the necessary sympathies to compete against Morena.
Already heading to the 2022 elections we see conflicts in the parties, between the politicians who control the structures and those who seek to seize an opportunity.
The risk of maintaining an alliance that does not grow is very high.
2021 was the first warning, 2022 may be the second, but coming weak to the 2024 presidential election could be the last chance to see the traditional parties try to return to power.
Doing and saying the same thing will not work.
Go with the same people, either.
The alliance has to make a difference and explain it to them, but above all, demonstrate to the citizens —now it is— that their parties and members have changed and that, as their coalition says, they are going for Mexico.