A Calderonismo Divided against Itself Is a Calderonismo That Cannot Stand

Excélsior reports that unlike the intra-PAN elections that brought César Nava and Germán Martínez to the party's helm, this year there are two candidates who represent the calderonista wing of the PAN: Gustavo Madero and Roberto Gil Zuarth. The logical tendency is to blame this on a weakening of Calderón's power as the end of his term approaches, and I see no reason to think that the conventional wisdom has it wrong. Calderón is said to have allies in about 60 percent of the National Counsel seats, which means that the division between Madero and Gil could potentially, though it probably won't, lead to a non-Calderonista taking over for the first time since Manuel Espino left the party presidency in 2007.