Rice U. political scientist Mark Jones available to comment on Mexican presidential election

David Ruth
713-348-6327
druth@rice.edu

Amy Hodges
713-348-6777
amy.hodges@rice.edu

EDITORS NOTE: A high-definition video with commentary from Jones is available in the “related links” section of this release. 

HOUSTON — (June 25, 2012) — Rice University political scientist Mark Jones is available to discuss the Mexican presidential race and July 1 election.

“Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate Enrique Peña Nieto is heavily favored to win July 1, returning the once omnipotent PRI to power after a 12-year absence,” Jones said. “Foremost in the minds of Mexicans is whether Peña Nieto will usher in a new era of PRI government, or partially return to the practices of cronyism, corruption and misuse of office that characterized PRI governments in the past.

“The other two major candidates, Josefina Vazquez Mota of the governing National Action Party (PAN) and 2006 candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), are locked in a heated battle for second place, neither with a likely chance of victory.”

According to Jones, the other major contest July 1 will be for control of the Chamber of Deputies.

“While the PRI is virtually assured of an absolute majority of seats in the Senate, it will need to garner at least 42.2 percent of the vote to obtain, in concert with its alliance partner, an absolute majority of seats in the chamber,” he said.

Jones, chair of political science at Rice and a fellow at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, is often quoted nationally and internationally about Latin American politics and has been closely following the Mexican presidential race. His research focuses on the impact of political institutions on politics and public policy in Latin America.

Jones is available for interviews in both English and Spanish. He can be reached directly at 832-466-6535.

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This release is available online at https://news2.rice.edu/2012/06/25/30688/.

Recent media citations (in Spanish):

Ted Cruz will go to the second round for a seat in the senate to represent Texas
MSN.com
http://on-msn.com/N0EsOO

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Clarín (Argentina) 
http://goo.gl/DkNUy

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Sharpen Exprés (Mexico)
http://www.elexpres.com/noticias/news-display.php?story_id=24843

The Argentine government announces a declaration regarding the Malvinas Islands
CNNMexico.com
http://tinyurl.com/82hzhzs

CNN en Español
 http://mms.tveyes.com/transcript.asp?StationID=1525&DateTime=5/28/2012%207:19:00%20AM

Related links:

Mark Jones bio: http://www.bakerinstitute.org/personnel/fellows-scholars/mjones

Video commentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4ewn16vyZM

Photographs, courtesy of Wikipedia:

Enrique Peña Nieto: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Enrique_Peña_Nieto_-_World_Economic_Forum_on_Latin_America_2010.jpg

Andrés Manuel López Obrador: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Andres_manuel_lopez_obrador_oct05.jpg

Josefina Vázquez Mota: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/JVM_en03.jpg

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