Lawmaker Quits Mexico’s Ruling Party

MEXICO CITY —  A lone voice of dissent in Mexico’s long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, resigned Wednesday, asserting that “the fascist interests that dominate” the party are blocking true democratic reform.

“They are moving in the opposite direction,” Alejandro Rojas Diaz-Duran declared in a resignation speech at the Chamber of Deputies that was a scathing attack on the PRI and its recent attempts at internal reform.

The federal legislator said his decision to resign from the party after years of casting a solitary PRI vote against such unpopular measures as tax hikes and diluted electoral reforms should be seen as a clear signal that “the government and the PRI cannot be cured” from within.

As Rojas then lifted his chair from the Chamber floor and moved it into the opposition bloc, ruling party legislators erupted with applause and shouts of “Out! Out! Out!” Several PRI deputies held up a sign declaring, “Once a traitor, always a traitor.”

“This was not a loss for the PRI,” said senior party official Roberto Campa, who asserted there is “all the necessary space” for constructive criticism within the party. “On the contrary, he hurt us more inside the party than he will outside.”

Jorge Moreno, a PRI deputy, said the resignation came as no surprise: “This was inevitable. We PRI-istas are a disciplined people, and Rojas repeatedly had shown indiscipline.”

Yet Rojas’ resignation appeared to be the latest blow to the PRI and its public image, which party leaders have recently sought to modernize after decades of authoritarian rule.

In September, during its national convention, the party of Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo responded to his calls for a more democratic PRI by approving sweeping internal reforms. But in the two months since, analysts say, the party that has ruled Mexico for 67 years took several steps backward.

Earlier this month, the PRI used its congressional majority to ram through a watered-down electoral reform bill that preserved the party’s advantage in campaign financing and media access in advance of crucial state and federal elections next year.

Rojas was the only PRI deputy to vote with the opposition against the bill, which critics say reneged on several key agreements the PRI had reached during nearly two years of negotiations with the opposition.

Even as Rojas announced his resignation from the party, the PRI was embroiled in another controversy in the state of Mexico on the capital’s outskirts. Opposition leaders asserted that the ruling party was using “chicanery” to establish a legislative majority in the state after local polls handed the ruling party several key defeats Nov. 10.

“Simply put, there is no willingness within the PRI to accept democracy,” Rojas said.

The renegade deputy said he will continue to serve in his legislative post as an independent, but he expressed hopes of a future alliance with other ranking ruling party members who might follow his example.