Teaching Comparative

A potential tipping point

Here's a tidbit from a New York Times article to put in the back of your mind and think about when the election results come in. As the political analysts say, in a close race, many little things might be decisive.

Teacher Strike May Influence Mexican Vote

"What started as a teachers' strike here five weeks ago has grown into a major movement to oust the governor of Oaxaca State that could affect the presidential election on July 2 ... the teachers ... have been joined by dozens of community groups, Indian rights organizations, farmers' cooperatives and revolutionary parties. The teachers' initial demand for better pay has been drowned out by the general cry for Gov. Ulises Ruiz to resign...

"Mr. Ruiz is a member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, the political machine that ruled Mexico, often through fraud and corruption, for seven decades, until its presidential candidate lost in 2000. The party is still strong in Oaxaca State, where leaders of the opposition party have been killed in recent elections...

"Now, politicians and voters worry that the spiraling political crisis will interfere with the presidential election in unpredictable ways.

"The teachers' union and its allies vow to disrupt the voting if the governor does not resign, and a fifth of the polling places are in schools. Yet the teachers are divided, with some saying they want to vote and some, including union leaders, calling for a protest vote against Mr. Ruiz's party and President Vicente Fox's National Action Party. That would benefit the leftist front-runner, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, who has been challenging the former governing party's hold on the state ... any shift in votes toward the leftist could be significant, political analysts said..."

posted by Ken Wedding @ 9:08 AM