AMLO aims to entice electrical workers

López Obrador says Alejandro Encinas would hire most SME electrical workers if elected governor of the State of Mexico

Mexico Weekly / April 15, 2011

Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Thursday made a lofty promise to thousands of unemployed electrical workers in exchange for their electoral support.

During a political rally, the erstwhile presidential candidate said the 15,000-plus members of the SME electrical workers union who have refused severance payments would be rehired as state workers if López Obrador’s preferred candidate, Alejandro Encinas, is elected governor of the State of Mexico on July 3.
This campaign promise came only three days after 11 members of the SME were arrested during violent protests carried out by the union in Mexico City. Union leader Martín Esparza has been summoned by police for questioning in a related incident.
For those not rehired under an Encinas administration, López Obrador said that if elected president next year, he would restore the Luz y Fuerza del Centro (LFC) power company and restore them to their jobs.
President Calderón dissolved the LFC in October 2009, citing inefficiency and high operational costs. The Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), the country's only remaining state-owned power company, absorbed LFC operations and now provides electricity to the capital and surrounding areas.

López Obrador did not explain if the promise to hire SME members was his own idea or Encinas’, nor did he specify if he had discussed the proposal with Encinas, Milenio reported.

Speaking On Behalf Of Encinas

This is not the first time López Obrador has spoken on behalf of Encinas, who will compete as the PRD, Labor Party and Convergencia candidate in the State of Mexico gubernatorial election.

In late March, López Obrador claimed Calderón personally had asked Encinas to accept the nomination of a PRD-PAN alliance.
Encinas partially denied the claim.

“I have had no direct interaction with [Calderón] or with any of his advisers,” Encinas said, according to the magazine La Revista Peninsular. “Members of my party … proposed that I lead the alliance, which I obviously rejected."
Although nearly a quarter million State of Mexico residents who participated in a referendum on March 27 voted in favor of a PRD-PAN alliance, the PRD National Committee voted against the alliance two weeks later.
The possible alliance was seen by some as a strategy to topple eight decades of PRI government in the State of Mexico.

—By Bronson Pettitt

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Encinas candidacy up in the air

Despite assurances he resides in Texcoco, local authorities doubt his assertion, refuse to grant him proof of residency certificate

Mexico Weekly / April 14, 2011

Ruling party members in the State of Mexico say Alejandro Encinas does not fulfill residency requirements to become a gubernatorial candidate for the upcoming July state election.

Amado Acosta García, the PRI mayor of the municipality of Texcoco, says Encinas, who plans to run for governor as a leftist coalition candidate, submitted an application for proof of residency in the state, El Universal reported Thursday.

However, municipal authorities have not answered Encinas’ request, citing doubts that he is really a resident of Texcoco. Local officials insist it should be state electoral officials, not municipal authorities, who determine Encinas’eligibility, El Universal reported.

Acosta says that along with Encinas’ application for proof of residency, the former Mexico City mayor also submitted a recently issued IFE electoral ID that includes an address in a small town near Texcoco.

According to the state Constitution, candidates must be residents of the State of Mexico for at least five years before Election Day.

Encinas was born in Mexico City in 1954 and studied economics at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Currently on a leave of absence as a federal deputy and the PRD Chamber of Deputies bloc leader, Encinas previously served two terms as deputy (1985-88 and 1991-94). He was also interim Mexico City mayor from August 2005 to December 2006, after Andrés Manuel López Obrador took a leave of absence to run for president.

Reforma reported Thursday that Encinas changed his place of residency to the State of Mexico on Dec. 4, 2006, but the elections are to take place on July 3, five months shy of the five-year requirement.

However, the law itself appears to be unclear. Article 68 of the State of Mexico constitution establishes that for a State of Mexico resident (born there or elsewhere) to be eligible for the office of governor, he or she must have lived in the state for at least three years and should have had a permanent address in the state for at least five years.

Encinas defends his eligibility, saying he meets the three-year provision since he has resided in Texcoco since 1979, Reforma reported Thursday.

When asked to show his electoral ID with the Texcoco address, Encinas said he did not have it with him at the time.

“I don’t carry it with me, [because] if I lose it, imagine what would happen!” he said, according to Reforma.

— By Bronson Pettitt

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