Understanding Mexican and ‘Potosino’ politics 102
Why are local or municipal elections important?
Let’s say you are the director of one of the several dozens of foreign companies with a plant in San Luis Potosi, American, German, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Italian… you name it. Obviously, what happens in the country, the state and even the city, can have a bearing on the overall work you develop.
How? Well, let’s say global HQ just let you know that you have to set up a new production line, which means you have to physically expand… that means dealing with several officials, mainly at a local level.
To tell the truth, that is not always a pleasant experience, since many municipal authorities can be kind of shady. Here in San Luis Potosi, on the other hand, fortunately, both the current governments of San Luis Potosi municipality and Villa de Reyes (where most of the plants are located), are extremely professional, and stick to what the law indicates: property taxes, construction licenses, operation licenses, etc.
Specifically, in Villa de Reyes, seat of the largest growing industrial parks in all of Mexico, (BMW and GM are already there, plus a slew of supplier companies), the current mayor is an ex Federal Congresswoman, Erika Briones; she won a very contested election in 2018, and has managed to modernize several things in the municipal government. Articulate, surrounded by a team of professionals, she’s eliminated rampant corruption and is a factor in negotiations to settle new companies. So it serves everybody’s best interests for her to win her reelection bid.
What’s at stake in the municipal elections? 58 local governments, formed by the mayor (Municipal President) and a Council (Cabildo); the council-people are called ‘Regidores’ and the number varies, according to the population of each municipality, like in San Luis Potosi, the largest, its ‘Cabildo’, has 15 ‘Regidores’, 2 ‘Sindicos’ (the municipality’s legal representatives, they have to be licensed lawyers) and the Municipal President, for a total of 18 members. Other Municipalities have 15 (Municipal President, 2 ‘Sindicos’ and 12 ‘Regidores’); and the smaller ones (like Villa de Reyes), have only 8 members (Municipal President, 1 ‘Sindico’ and 5 ‘Regidores’).
The election system has each participating party present a list which includes first and foremost, the candidate for mayor, the ‘Sindicos’ (or ‘Sindico’) and the First ‘Regidor’; these are the ‘Majority List’, if that party wins, they automatically are part of the Council; also, the parties set up another list, the ‘Proportional List’, and according to the final voting tally, they obtain a certain amount of ‘Regidores’ in the council.
This is important, as several municipal decisions imply a simple or, sometimes, a two thirds majority, and no party can have so many council people, as to have, by themselves, that absolute majority. It can get sticky, sometimes, just look at the current problems within the San Luis Potosi municipality Cabildo, in which the mayor can’t seem to agree even with his own party ‘Regidores’!
Anyway, after the momentous chapter we just witnessed, with Donald Trump leaving the White House and Joe Biden being sworn in as the USA’s 46th President, these local elections might seem very, very small and kind of distant… but take our word: they are important to the people that live and work in so many companies… and it’s better to understand what is happening where, for good or for better, you are currently living…
Next week we’ll talk about the main Mexican political parties… meanwhile take it easy, and have a nice one!
