The Coalition for the Good of All ( es, Coalición por el Bien de Todos) was a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

coalition created by the

Party of the Democratic Revolution The Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD, es, Partido de la Revolución Democrática, ) is a social democratic political party in Mexico. The PRD originated from the Democratic Current, a political faction formed in 1986 from the Institut ...

(PRD),

Convergence Convergence may refer to: Arts and media Literature *''Convergence'' (book series), edited by Ruth Nanda Anshen *Convergence (comics), "Convergence" (comics), two separate story lines published by DC Comics: **A four-part crossover storyline that ...

and the Labor Party (PT) to support

Andrés Manuel López Obrador Andrés Manuel López Obrador (; born 13 November 1953), also known by his initials AMLO, is a Mexican politician who has been serving as the 65th president of Mexico since 1 December 2018. He previously served as Head of Government of Mexico ...

as a candidate for the

presidency of Mexico The president of Mexico ( es, link=no, Presidente de México), officially the president of the United Mexican States ( es, link=no, Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the Co ...

in the general election of 2006. The coalition also presented joint candidates for

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

ional and local elections. The coalition was approved by the

Federal Electoral Institute The Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE) (English for ''National Electoral Institute'') (formerly Federal Electoral Institute (, IFE)) is an autonomous, public agency responsible for organizing federal elections in Mexico, that is, those relate ...

in December 2005 and on January 4, 2006 the Executive Commission of the alliance was formalized with an estimated budget of 600 million

pesos The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the same sign, "$", as many currencies named "dollar" ...

(roughly

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

56 million).

History

The former

mayor of Mexico City The Head of Government ( es, Jefe de Gobierno) wields the executive power in Mexico City. The Head of Government serves a six-year term, running concurrently with that of the President of the Republic. Mexico City, or CDMX, is the seat of natio ...

, was the presidential candidate for the Coalition for the Good of All in the

2006 presidential elections Presidential elections were held in Bulgaria on 22 October 2006, as decided on 27 July 2006 by the Bulgarian Parliament. The runoff took place on 29 October 2006, while the electoral campaign spanned 19 September – 20 October. At the election, ...

. López Obrador ran against

Felipe Calderón Felipe de Jesús Calderón Hinojosa (; born 18 August 1962) is a Mexican politician who served as the 63rd president of Mexico from 1 December 2006 to 30 November 2012 and Secretary of Energy during the presidency of Vicente Fox between 2003 a ...

, PAN candidate, and

Roberto Madrazo The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

, PRI candidate. López Obrador's campaign relied on citizen's networks (redes ciudadanas) that focused on mobilizing the public to campaign. This strategy focused on López Obrador as an individual and not the PRD. This was worrisome to PRD leaders because they thought that the PRD's concerns would not be addressed. However, many party members thought that López Obrador would win so these concerns were not addressed. After the general election of July 2, 2006, and a recount of the 9.09% of the ballot tally sheets which supposedly presented irregularities, the Federal Electoral Institute recorded the vote results in favor of

by a margin of 0.58 percent, about 243,000 votes. These results were later validated by the Federal Electoral Tribunal. However, the PRD claimed that there was

election fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share of ...

. The claims of election fraud have been rejected by the

Federal Electoral Tribunal The Electoral Tribunal of the Federal Judiciary ( es, Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación, or ) is a venue within the judiciary of Mexico that specialises in electoral matters. Among its functions are resolving disputes aris ...

(TEPJF), which considered these "notoriously out of order" ("notoriamente improcedente") and certified PAN's candidate

as the winner.

Post-election

López Obrador then rallied his supporters to hold demonstrations in the capital, Mexico City. These demonstrations were organized by the PRD, whose stronghold is in Mexico City. The PRD had called for demonstrations and set up camps in the capital's main square, blocking one of its main avenues (

Paseo de la Reforma Paseo de la Reforma (translated as "Promenade of the Reform") is a wide avenue that runs diagonally across the heart of Mexico City. It was designed at the behest of Emperor Maximilian by Ferdinand von Rosenzweig during the era of the Secon ...

) for six weeks to demand a recount of all votes, which was not granted. The camps were later dismantled after confrontation with the Mexican Army became likely. On September 5, the

announced that there was not enough evidence of electoral fraud which legitimized Calderon as President. This caused López Obrador to maintain his campaign of civil disobedience and declared himself as "Legitimate President" in a "public open vote" (people in the main square raising their hands). López Obrador did not recognize the legitimacy of Calderón as president. The PRD was criticized for not complying with the democratic system that it had lauded and helped create. However, the PRD could not agree on whether they should move forward and cooperate with the current system and contribute to policy or take on an uncompromising stance in an attempt to overturn the current system. This split later trickled on to other things such as electoral and petroleum reforms where one part of the party wanted to cooperate while the other refused to out of allegiance to López Obrador.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Congressional elections

Chamber of Deputies

Senate elections

References

External links

*
El IFE da luz verde a coaliciones para las elecciones del 2006
' ("IFE gives green light to coalitions for the 2006 elections"), article on Starmedia *
Podrían anular candidaturas del PRD a diputados federales
' ("PRD federal deputy candidacies might be made void"), article on

Milenio ''Milenio'' is a major national newspaper in Mexico, owned by Grupo Multimedios. It is published in 11 cities across Mexico, including Monterrey, Mexico City, Guadalajara, León, Pachuca, Puebla, Villahermosa, Tampico, Torreón, Toluca, and ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coalition For The Good Of All 2005 in Mexican politics Party of the Democratic Revolution Labor Party (Mexico) Citizens' Movement (Mexico) Political organizations based in Mexico 2006 elections in Mexico 2006 in Mexican politics Defunct political party alliances in Mexico Socialist parties in Mexico