Vázquez Mota on Her Candidacy

Calderón's former education secretary has an interview with Milenio today. In it, she says that there is no distance between herself and Calderón, but she makes clear that she is not Calderón's candidate. It sure looks like Cordero is going to wind up a distant third to Vázquez and Creel, which follows Creel's own defeat to Calderón when the former was Fox's preferred candidate. It's not really clear that Calderón is doing much to tip the scales toward Cordero, but the perception that he is Los Pinos favorite seems to be hurting. Vázquez also criticized the corporatist practice of trading positions in the bureaucracy for political support, though in rather vague terms. Asked if the PRI's return represents a democratic regression, she said:

First, I am convinced that the PAN has the capacity, the platform, the experience, and if we work with unity and cohesion we will also have the strength to win the presidency. In a democratic system, the most important thing is the decision that the voters make, and that is very important to say ahead of time, but we have seen in recent elections that there are practices that warn against a democratic regression. Practices of electoral order, coopting of votes, threats, coercion, which we thought were overcome many years ago and which, nevertheless, today we see not only that they have returned, but that they are becoming a method of practicing politics and winning elections.