Politic alternation in Baja California: Toward a new balance of powers

• Main Author: Cuauhtémoc López Guzmán
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad Autonoma de Baja California 2001-01-01
• Series: Estudios Fronterizos
• Subjects: Alternancia política; Presidencialismo; Dinámica de los gobiernos divididos
• Online Access: http://ref.uabc.mx/ojs/index.php/ref/article/view/284

Ever since the National Action Party (PAN) won the governor elections in the State of Baja California in 1989, Mexico experienced the inauguration of a political alternation in a governor’s office, which brought about the smashing of the myth that it was impossible for the PRI to share power at that level. The scarce forums won or surrendered by the party ever present in power, allowed the opposition to confront and criticize the centralization of power and the neutralization of representation, that is, rather than offering its voters nationalistic discourses, the opposition parties joined the cause of the anti-centralist resent, particularly present in the northern part of the country, and discredited the decaying relationship between the legislative and the executive powers (the presidency), both at a federal and states levels. In view of these considerations, the possibilities of setting the foundations for a new horizontal and vertical relationship among powers in the state of Baja California, which during the last ten years has been governed by the National Action Party, are discussed in this essay.