MEXICO CITY (AP) 鈥� It鈥檚 been a long strange trip for Mexico鈥檚 Ecologist Green Party, which rode on its alliance with the ruling Morena party to become the second-largest voting block in Congress.
This Green Party has been better known for picking presidential winners like it did this time with and making strategic alliances regardless of political ideology than for taking on environmental causes.
But it has always been a strange political group in Mexico. Founded by the millionaire owner of a discount pharmacies chain, the Green party has at various times called for re-instating the death penalty, mandatory English classes for school kids and life prison sentences for kidnappers.
What it is good at is handing out free campaign swag 鈥� backpacks, T-shirts and water bottles with its logo 鈥淧VEM鈥�, for Partido Verde Ecologista de Mexico 鈥� and getting influencers and celebrities to post videos supporting it, allegedly in exchange for payments.
The party has allied itself with whoever it thinks will win. It was an ally of the old ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, of the conservative National Action Party, and now cleaves to the ruling Morena party of President Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador.
That has worked for them, because Mexico's arcane election laws allow coalition parties to distribute votes, congressional seats and state governorships among themselves.
That means the Greens, which have almost never functioned as a real opposition, will likely displace the National Action party as the main opposition party in Congress in September. Though the Green Party won far fewer actual votes in the June 2 elections than National Action, it will have more seats in Congress because of 鈥榩roportional representation鈥� rules designed to favor smaller parties.
But those alliances mean the Greens have supported L贸pez Obrador's policies of reviving Mexico's state-owned oil industry and its production of heavy crude oil and highly-polluting, poorly refined fuel oil. The government has subsidized airports, highways and gasoline prices, while building .
鈥淭he Green Party is anything but green," said Adri谩n Fern谩ndez Bremauntz, the director of the activist group Climate Initiative. 鈥淭hey have voted against the environment, against public health and against fighting climate change.鈥�
The party promotes its efforts that have increased penalties for polluters, and added the right to a healthy environment to the Constitution.
But in 2009, the Green Party also proposed returning the death penalty for kidnappers who kill their victims. The proposal was not adopted. Mexico formally abolished the death penalty in 2005 but has not held an execution since 1961.
That lead the European Greens coalition to say publicly in 2009 that they did not consider the Mexican party a member of the green political family.
鈥淚t's not consistent with the (environmental) causes,鈥� but wins votes from young people or the well-intentioned, but poorly informed, Fern谩ndez Bramauntz said.
In the late 1980s, the party's founders, members of the Gonz谩lez Torres family, saw an attractive marketing ploy in the 鈥済reen鈥� label that could probably sell politically.
鈥淭he environmentalist label was hijacked here in Mexico," said Paula Sof铆a V谩squez, the co-author of the book 鈥淭he Green Mafia,鈥� who called it "a business model based on politics,鈥� because under Mexican electoral law, the government funds most electoral campaigns.
And from their business experience, they also realized the importance of marketing. The party has relied mainly on younger, physically attractive candidates, social media influencers and celebrities, and catchy one-line slogans based on whatever issue was at the top of voters' minds.
Green party leader Karen Castrej贸n said the group had supported some controversial proposals because they were 鈥渇undamental for our country.鈥� Castrej贸n attributed the party's success to 鈥減olitical engineering鈥� and 鈥渟olid proposals.鈥�
鈥淩egrettably, we have always been stigmatized as a party," Castrej贸n said. 鈥渢hey say we always go with whoever is in power.鈥�
Things got so bad that in 2015, about 150,000 people signed petitions asking electoral authorities to pull the party's registration. The effort failed.
Mar铆a Marv谩n, a legal expert at Mexico's National Autonomous University, served on the country's electoral board at the time.
鈥淚t was a very spirited discussion,鈥� said Marv谩n. 鈥淭hey have been involved in a lot of underhanded dealing.鈥�
Maria Verza, The Associated Press
