General elections were held in Mexico on Sunday, 2 July 2006. Voters went to the polls to elect a new President of the Republic to serve a six-year term, replacing then President Vicente Fox (ineligible for re-election under the 1917 Constitution); 500 members of the Chamber of Deputies (300 by the first-past-the-post system and 200 by proportional representation) to serve for three-year terms; and 128 members of the Senate (three per state by limited voting and 32 by proportional representation from national party lists) to serve for six-year terms.
Several local ballots were also held on the same day, including the head and legislature of the federal district, governors of Guanajuato, Jalisco and Morelos and local councillors in several states.
Due to controversial events in Mexican politics in the years preceding the election, the negative and aggressive tone of the presidential campaign, the personal interference of President Vicente Fox to favor the candidate of his party the National Action Party of Felipe Calderón, as well as the controversial and extremely close results that gave Calderón a lead of 0.6% of the vote (or 243,934 votes) over his rival Andrés Manuel López Obrador, member of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (who subsequently refused to recognize the results and claimed that the election had been rigged against him), Mexico went through a political crisis for the remainder of the year, as López Obrador called for protests throughout the country and proclaimed himself to be the "Legitimate President", while legislators of his party protested the inauguration of Felipe Calderón as President on 1 December. At the same time, the southern state of Oaxaca was marked by severe civil unrest during 2006 after a teachers' strike was violently repressed by Governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz, which led to protests calling for his resignation; the 2 July elections in many regions of that state were disturbed by the ongoing conflict.
Although there were nationwide protests by López Obrador's supporters calling for a complete recount of the votes, this was rejected by the Federal Electoral Tribunal, which only authorized a recount in less than 10% of the polling stations and later concluded that the irregularities in the election hadn't been grave enough to change the outcome of the election. On 5 September, Calderón was officially declared by the Tribunal as the winner of the election.
Analysts agree that Calderón's launch of the Mexican drug war on 11 December (only ten days after taking office as President) was an extraordinary step to gain popular support and to cement his legitimacy in the aftermath of the convoluted elections and the subsequent crisis.
Presidential candidates There were five registered candidates for the 2006 presidential election: Party/AlliancePhotoCandidateSlogan National Action Party Felipe Calderón Para que vivamos mejor"So we can live better" Coalition for the Good of All (PRD, PT, Convergence) Andrés Manuel López Obrador Por el bien de todos, primero los pobres"For the Good of All, the poor are first" Alliance for Mexico (PRI, PVEM) Roberto Madrazo Mover a México para que las cosas se hagan"Moving Mexico to get things done" Social Democratic and Peasant Alternative Party Patricia Mercado Palabra de mujer"A woman's word" New Alliance Party Roberto Campa Uno de tres"One out of three"
A non-registered candidate, Víctor González Torres (nicknamed "Dr. Simi" after the mascot of his national drugstore franchise) made a massive marketing campaign to enter the election, in spite of not being registered as an official candidate, and ran as a write-in candidate. His popular slogan was "The same only cheaper", but his campaign slogan was "To serve God and the people of Mexico". Ironically, he frequently stressed the fact that he paid all of his own campaign expenses, thus being the "cheapest" candidate. He was not considered a formal candidate but many press sources still publish his sayings and complaints against IFE, while some sources consider him a sort of "comic relief".
Assets, liabilities and annual expenses As of January 2005 only three candidates had made a public declaration of assets, liabilities and annual expenses. These figures were given in pesos, the total value of assets of each candidate follows at an exchange rate of 10.62 pesos to one United States dollar.
Candidate Assets Liabilities Annual expenses As of (date) López Obrador MX$1,295,358 / US$121,973 0 MX$1,165,650 / US$109,760 3 June 2004 Calderón MX$8,803,885 / US$828,991 – – 19 January 2006 Madrazo MX$29,398,668 / US$2,768,236 MX$39,290 / US$2,758MX$475,000 / US$44,727 19 January 2006
Debates A first presidential debate was held on 25 April 2006 with the presence of all candidates with the notable exception of López Obrador. López Obrador had refused to participate in all debates, and said he would only participate in one since long before the first debate was scheduled. The rest of the candidates agreed on leaving an empty chair to symbolize that the fifth candidate was indeed invited.
The silla vacía (Spanish for "empty chair") became the topic of political commentary shows and the press. Excélsior called the empty chair a "double-edged sword"La silla vacía puede ser arma de dos filos ("Empty chair can be a double-edged sword") 4 April 2006 Excélsior. Retrieved on 6 May 2006. coinciding with other publications and TV shows that leaving the empty chair could be construed as an insult to the audience and an attack to López Obrador. However, by the date of the debates, the statistical tendency in many polls had confirmed Calderón at the second spot and López Obrador still with a single digit advantage over him.
After the first debate some political commentators, media outlets, and polls indicated that CalderónDan como ganador del debate a Calderón ("Calderón seen as the winner of debate") 27 April 2006 Prensa Latina. Retrieved on 6 May 2006. was seen as the winner of the debate, Mercado as the pleasant surprise of the night.Gana Calderón; Mercado sorprende; pierde López ("Calderón wins, Mercado surprises, López loses") April 26, 2006 La Crónica. Retrieved on 6 May 2006. and a nervous Madrazo as the worst performer of the night.La opinión de Excélsior en torno al debate ("What Excélsior thinks in regards to the debate") 26 April 2006 Excélsior. Retrieved on 6 May 2006. However, political analysts also said that the debate was unnecessarily full of promises and personal attacks. Analysts considered that López Obrador was negatively affected by his absence and polls later confirmed Calderón having replaced López Obrador as the leading candidate.
A second debate took place on 6 June of the same year, from 20:30 to 22:30,Confirma Madrazo participación en segundo debate ("Madrazo Confirms Participation in Second Debate") 23 May 2006 El Universal. Retrieved on 2 June 2006 Central Time, with the confirmed presence of all candidates, including López Obrador. Media outlets have given results to telephone polls applied post-debate showing a mixed tendency. Most, like Reforma and Presente, gave Felipe Calderón the lead, but a few, like Diario Monitor, gave it to Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
However, the rise of López Obrador in voter preference polls since the debate seems to indicate that it was the PRD candidate who won it. One of the main causes for this victory may have been the Hildebrando accusation that López Obrador made during the debate.
Before the debate, Carlos Ahumada's wife threatened to release tapes involving allies of López Obrador in suspected acts of corruption, but the release was cancelled due to an attempted murder which is still under investigation. (See: Videoscandals)."Shooting adds twist to Mexican elections" . Retrieved 11 June 2006.
Victor González Torres, a national pharmacy entrepreneur nicknamed "Dr. Simi", declared himself a non-registered write-in candidate and tried to enter the building where the debate was to take place. González Torres demanded to be allowed participation in the debate, but he was not allowed to enter the building where he made the demand. He even brought his own chair. Candidates with no political parties are not permitted to compete in elections under Mexican law, and votes for all write-in candidates are counted together, regardless of which write-in candidate the vote was cast.
On 13 June 2006 all political parties, except Nueva Alianza, signed before members of the IFE the Democratic Agreement for the Equality, Legality and Gobernability, in which the main purpose was that everyone agree on a compromise to respect the results of the election.Ugalde, Luis Carlos ″Así lo viví. Testimonio de la elección presidencial de 2006, la más competida en la historia moderna de México.″ Debolsillo 2010
Opinion polls Opinion polls in the run-up to the election showed López Obrador and Calderón neck and neck. The last polls conducted before the polling blackout that begins eight days before the election all showed López Obrador and Calderón tied with the results within the margins of error. Both Reforma and El Universal newspapers, considered by many to be Mexico City's most influential, gave López Obrador a two-point edge over Calderón.
The candidates of the smaller parties also gained ground at the expense of Roberto Madrazo and López Obrador. The last poll from El Universal showed Patricia Mercado of Social Democratic and Farmer Alternative had gained enough support for her party to retain its registry. In the latest Zogby poll, Madrazo, however, trailed the leader Calderón by only 8 points and was only 4 points behind López Obrador.
Averaging the last ten polls conducted before the polling blackout (between 20 June and 23 June), López Obrador edged out Calderón by a razor-thin half percentage point with 35.1%. Calderón had 34.6% and Madrazo came in third with 26%.
Date Publisher López Obrador Calderón Madrazo23 June 2006Reforma36%34%25%23 June 2006El Universal36%34%26%23 June 2006Ulises Beltran y Asociados34%34%26%22 June 2006Milenio Diario35.4%30.5%29.6%22 June 2006GEA-ISA36%38%23%22 June 2006Alducin y Asociados34%38%24%22 June 2006Consulta Mitofsky36%33%27%21 June 2006Indermerc33%32%28%21 June 2006Marketing Político34%37%26%20 June 2006Parametría36.5%32.5%27%19 June 2006Zogby 31%35%27%14 June 2006Reforma37%35%23%13 June 2006Milenio Diario34.2%31%29.6%13 June 2006Consulta Mitofsky35%32%28%12 June 2006El Universal34%37%22%11 June 2006GEA-ISA35%39%23%6 June 2006El Universal36%36%24%6 June 2006Parametría35.5%34.4%27%5 June 2006BGC, Beltrán y Asociados35%35%26%29 May 2006Milenio Diario33%33%3%29 May 2006Consulta Mitofsky34%34%28%28 May 2006GEA-ISA31%40%27%24 May 2006Reforma%35%39%22%19 May 2006Zogby29%34%22%15 May 2006El Universal35%39%21%8 May 2006Parametría34%36%26%4 May 2006GEA-ISA31%41%25%3 May 2006Consulta Mitofsky34%35%27%3 May 2006Reforma33%40%22%2 May 2006Milenio Diario33%36%28%23 April 2006Parametría35%33%28%17 April 2006El Universal38%34%25%6 April 2006Milenio Diario34%31%31%6 April 2006Arcop*33%36%29%27 March 2006Consulta Mitofsky37.5%30.6%28.8%27 March 2006BIMSA31.2%25.5%21.4%21 March 2006GEA-ISA34%36%28%16 March 2006Reforma41%31%25%13 March 2006El Universal42%32%24%22 February 2006Consulta Mitofsky39.4%29.8%27.5%21 February 2006GEA-ISA34%27%22%21 February 2006Reforma38%31%2920 February 2006El Universal30%27%22%23 January 2006GEA-ISA35%35%29%26 January 2006El Universal33%27%2%20 January 2006Parametria35.7%27.4%26.2%20 January 2006TV Azteca 38%31%2819 January 2006Reforma34%26%22%19 January 2006La Jornada*39%27%22%18 January 2006Consulta Mitofsky38.7%31.0%29.2%8 January 2006Milenio Diario*28%30%25%5 December 200534.8%28.8%30.4%21 November 2005Reforma29%28%21%5 November 2005El Universal34%22%18% Date Publisher López Obrador Calderón Madrazo