Gubernatorial debates flounder in Baja California - PAN accuses electoral authorities of favoring the PRI
From The San Diego Union Tribune
By Sandra Dibble
"The empty podium at the Baja California gubernatorial debate on Wednesday night begged the question: Where's Kiko?
Kiko is the nickname for Francisco Vega de Lamadrid, a member of Mexico's National Action Party (PAN), which is fighting to win a fifth consecutive
term in Baja California in the state's July 7 elections. A former Tijuana mayor, Vega is the candidate for a PAN-led coalition.
Francisco "Kiko" Vega de Lamadrid
The flap over Vega's absence is among the latest turn of events in what has become an increasingly contentious gubernatorial campaign in Baja
California. The PAN is facing an unprecedented challenge from a coalition led by Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party, the PRI.
Wednesday's debate, broadcast by internet, was the third of five gubernatorial debates organized by the Electoral and Citizen Participation Institute
of Baja California. Though Vega attended the first two, his communications team offered no immediate explanation for this week's absence. On Friday,
the head of Vega's campaign accused the supposedly impartial institute of favoring the PRI.
Oscar Vega Marin said in a written statement that Ruben Castro Bojorquez, the institute's president "has generated conditions that profoundly erode
the moral authority of this institution charged with running the election."
Vega's main rival for the governor's job is Fernando Castro Trenti, a PRIista former federal senator know for his political skills and connections
with his national leadership. A third contender, Felipe Ruanova Zarate, for the Citizens Movement Party, appears to have no chance of winning, and is
spending much of his time attacking Vega.
Another debate planned by the business group Coparmex in Tijuana between the two main candidates this week was canceled when the PRI said Castro
Trenti wouldn't participate unless Ruanova also was invited to attend. The PRI's withdrawal led Coparmex to cancel its gubernatorial debate for the
first time in two decades, said Jorge Escalante, president of Coparmex in Tijuana.
"When there's only two you're going deeper into the actual issues, Escalante said. "Initially they both confirmed in writing," Escalante said."
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness.”
—Mark Twain
\"La vida es dura, el corazon es puro, y cantamos hasta la madrugada.” (Life is hard, the heart is pure and we sing until dawn.)
—Kirsty MacColl, Mambo de la Luna
\"Alea iacta est.\"
—Julius Caesar
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