Opinion of the national expert - The last year without death rattle or truce

By Juan Carlos Gómez Aranda

Last week the last year of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's government began and, despite the symbolic handing over of the baton and the transfer of the leadership of his political movement, until now he is the one who continues to call the shots as the main performer of the actions of the federal government and the national reality. There is no space for other spokespeople or protagonists to dictate the communication agenda, some because they have not been able to develop their own narrative and others because they are afraid of sounding a discordant note with the National Palace's definition of the country's substantive issues.

However, things are going to change very soon because the new national and local actors will have to create a personal and partisan discourse about their vision of the problems that overwhelm Mexicans and, above all, the solutions they envision. Voters expect viable and effective proposals to address the lack of job opportunities or the insecurity that plagues entire regions, but which some governors insist on denying, hoping that the problem will disappear by simply not invoking it.

Once the issue of his succession has been resolved, the President has focused on working, concentrating on his priority issues: the completion of emblematic infrastructure works; The Mayan Train, the refinery in Dos Bocas, the Felipe Ángeles International Airport and the Transisthmian Corridor will be his most important material legacy. Meanwhile, other issues are being attended to so that they reach the end of the six-year term with an acceptable margin of management when handing over the post.

Things have gone well for President López Obrador. On the one hand, his favorite, Claudia Sheinbaum, started with a wide lead in the opinion polls, while the siege of Xóchitl Gálvez continues, despite the failed calls from the electoral authority. Sheinbaum moves with the ease that comes with knowing she is ahead by more than 20 points in preferences, according to recent public measurements, while Gálvez seems to have trouble finding the tone of her speech and even in the formation of her campaign team. .

It is true, we are still close to the constitutional start of the competition and there are eight months until the election. There is time to place yourself better in the polls - which, in the end, are only a Photography of the moment—and achieve greater recognition from the population. The issue is how to do it, when and with whom as traveling companions.

On the other hand, we will soon see the arrival on the scene of hundreds of candidates who will compete for cameras, microphones and newspaper covers to snatch, perhaps, the monopoly of political information and a critical and condescending view of the country's fundamental issues. . Morena reported that 285 people registered to participate in the candidacy of eight governorships and the Head of Government of Mexico City. To this figure it will be necessary to add the proposals of the national leadership, after the governors overwhelmed the state councils of their party with their prospects, and we also need to add the candidates from the opposition front and the Citizen Movement.

Effervescence is imminent in some of the centers of political gravity. Morena announced yesterday that tomorrow the results of the recognition surveys for candidates for the Transformation Defense Coordination in nine entities will be published and that on Friday the names of the profiles that will participate in the final survey to define the candidatures.

The president of Morena, Mario Delgado, explained that the National Election Commission will define the final list of participants of each entity based on three criteria: evaluation of the proposals made by the state councils, because the governors They were served with the big spoon, from the results of the recognition surveys and the political assessment of each of the profiles. Delgado did not say it, but in some cases, such as Chiapas, an assessment of various factors will also have to be made: social situation, governability, security and combating organized crime... and disorganized crime.

On the opposition front's side, they have come a long way since the emergence of Xóchitl Gálvez to the candidacy, but now they have to deal with the perception that their campaign has deflated since, once again, they are behind in defining their prospects for governorships.

Local and foreign, including those who consider that the spotlight was invented for them, will be voices that will deafen the electoral sky, disputing the President's monopoly on the political and media agenda that he has built since the successful, for his purposes, colloquially daily press conference. call The Morningwhich has greatly helped him reach his fifth year with encouragement and without giving or asking his adversaries for respite.