Monday, July 02, 2012

Peña Nieto Wins Mexican Presidential Election


Presidential candidate Enrique Pena Nieto speaks to supporters at his party's headquarters in Mexico City, Mexico, July 2, 2012

VOA News
Voters in Mexico have chosen to bring the country's once dominant political party back into power by electing Enrique Pena Nieto as their next president.

According to the preliminary results that still must be validated, Pena Nieto had 38 percent of Sunday's vote to beat former Mexico City mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who had 31 percent.

On Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama called Pena Nieto to congratulate him and offer U.S. support in meeting mutual goals.

Who is Enrique Peña Nieto?

  • A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI) since 1984
  • Drew national attention as governor of the State of Mexico from 2005 to 2011
  • Built his reputation by making "pledges" to the State of Mexico, focusing on public works and infrastructure improvement
  • Ranked among country's most handsome politicians
  • Married Televisa soap star Angelica Rivera in 2010
  • Admitted that he had affairs and fathered two children during his first marriage to Monica Pretelini Saenz
​​Pena Nieto said in an address to his supporters that Mexicans have voted for a change in direction, but he vowed to keep pressure on drug cartels.

"The fight against crime will continue with a new strategy to reduce violence and protect the lives of Mexicans," he said. "Let it be clear, with organized crime there will be no pacts or truce."

Lopez Obrador said he was not ready to concede.

"We have to represent them as they deserve to be represented, the citizens that have confided in us," he said. "We will not, in any way, act in an irresponsible way, we will have all of the information. And when it is the right time, we will inform the people of Mexico about the result of this election."

Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) ruled Mexico for 71 years until 2000, when voters elected National Action Party (PAN) candidate Vicente Fox. Outgoing President Felipe Calderon, also from PAN, followed in 2006, but his tenure has been plagued by economic stagnation and rampant drug violence.

Calderon deployed the military to fight the drug cartels shortly after he took office. More than 50,000 people have been killed in drug violence since then.

The PAN candidate in this year's election, Josefina Vazquez Mota, finished third in the voting.






Related

  • On September 19, 2011, he announced his candidacy for president in the 2012 Mexican presidential election to succeed Felipe Calderón,[1] and formally registered his candidacy on November 27, 2011.[2]
  • Peña Nieto holds a Bachelor's degree from Universidad Panamericana and a Master's in Business from Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM). Peña Nieto has said that he participated in his first political exercise as a high school junior, when he represented his class during public ceremonies.[6]
  • Universidad Panamericana:
  • UP was founded in 1967 as a business school. A group of wealthy businessmen and academics gave life to the Panamerican Institute for High Business Direction (Instituto Panamericano de Alta Dirección de Empresas), later they promoted the creation of a university. The Panamerican Institute of Humanities (Instituto Panamericano de Humanidades- IPH), founded in 1968, merged with the IPADE and created the Panamerican University. It was all done under the spiritual direction of Opus Dei, a personal prelature of the Catholic Church.
Source: Wikipedia.

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