In recent weeks, two internal events at the National Action Party have revealed the severe crisis that this institution faces after leaving the Mexican Presidency. Both in its National Council and its 17th Extraordinary Assembly, where the main objective was the adoption of the party’s statutory reform, sessions had to be suspended because of a breaking in the attendance quorum. Regardless of the reasons (and quarrels) behind these developments, it is worth reflecting on the party that was the main opposition throughout most of the PRI’s government and a fierce critic on the authoritarian regime, is now suffering from vices derived from catching the crumbs from the 2012 electoral fiasco.
Since its foundation in September 1939 until its arrival to Mexican Presidency in 2000, PAN was torn between being, as Soledad Loaeza defined it, a “loyal opposition”, walking the fine line between legitimating a system in which its chances of an election triumph were slim to none, or fighting against it. Over the years, the regime´s erosion, along with economic and political changes throughout the world and an electoral strategy that covered both local and national areas made possible the circumstance in which a party different from PRI could reach the Executive power. Additionally, Mexican society started to develop a more participatory political approach as well as a growing interest in public affairs. Nevertheless, even though PAN played an important role in the country´s democratisation it was not able to keep in step with the reality of power, the requirements of government functions nor the development of a changing platform for the political structure of the country that would match its own principles, ideals and identity. Instead, PAN´s accession to power was more about the incorporation of the former opposition party with PRI´s old ways but lacking their politicians´skills. In addition, a sort of favouritism inside PAN got the party back to the same type of corruption that was characteristic of the old political system. It was no longer important to defend an ideology or execute it through a style of governance; the aim was to prolong its grip to power at all cost. This was the same mistake made by PRI that kept it out of government for 12 years. Just like them, PAN suffered from a power vacuum that has heightened internal concerns and puts it on an unprecedented break-up scenario.
What comes next for PAN in the coming months? As Ernesto Cordero pointed out a few days ago, the party is still a government force both in Congress as well as state and municipal levels (on a decreasing trend). However, its great challenge is, besides not losing what little it still has left, to rediscover its identity. This does not mean going back to the same principles that brought PAN to existence, specially since Mexico sixty years ago is radically different from now. The party cannot become absorbed in the cheap rhetoric of “responsible opposition”, since this would mean to become diluted within a current government that, for now, has everything going its way. To become a real government alternative, PAN must attend the urgent need to build a platform able to govern and convince the population, not by offering places it doesn’t have and serve of little interest to outsiders but by gaining a better understanding of both Mexican reality as well as the diverse social structure typical of our times and, last but not least, to enforce what the party preached about but couldn’t achieve: a different and efficient type of government.
CIDAC
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