Mexico’s president-elect calls on rivals to back reform push
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto called on rival parties to rally around his plans for economic reforms on Wednesday, naming a team of advisers to help negotiate deals in the new Congress.
Pena Nieto’s election win on July 1 will bring the InstitutionalRevolutionary Party, or PRI, which ruled Mexico for most of the 20th century, back to power after more than a decade on the sidelines.
The youthful former governor ran on a platform of ambitious, market-friendly tax, labor and energy reforms, but his plans could hit snags after the PRI failed to win a majority in either the Senate or the lower house of Congress.
“We will have a diverse Congress where no party has an absolute majority and as a result, all the parties will be responsible for coming to agreements,” Pena Nieto told a news conference.
“It is time to agree, not impose,” he said. “Time to build, not obstruct.”
The new Congress convenes in September and PRI lawmakers have said there is a window of opportunity to push through some reforms before Pena Nieto takes office in December.
“We will start promoting these issues at the start of the next legislature,” said Luis Videgaray, Pena Nieto’s campaign manager, who was named on Wednesday to coordinate reform initiatives for the new government.
During the administration of outgoing PresidentFelipe Calderon, the PRI helped block many similar market-friendly reforms. Pena Nieto now says the changes are necessary to transform the country and insists his party is behind him.
Pena Nieto shied away from naming an official transition team before the electoral tribunal formally declares a winner, a decision that could take two more months.
The runner-up in the race, leftistAndres Manuel Lopez Obrador, rejected the election results,
You can read the rest of this article at:: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-mexico-electionbre86a16h-20120711,0,2889309.story
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Posted by RobertButler
on Jul 14 2012. Filed under 2012 Presidential Campaign.
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