| | |  Entertainment | May 2009 
Mexico TV Interview Sparks Controversy
 The News
go to original
The capital's Miguel Hidalgo borough has become a flashpoint and on Sunday the Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, called for the National Action Party candidate to be fined.
Demetrio Sodi unleashed a firestorm with a TV interview during the UNAM Pumas soccer game on Saturday and Andrés Manuel López Obrador lit the match at a campaign event.
"Yesterday the mafia's candidate appeared on TV for two minutes during prime hours in the middle of a soccer game," López Obrador said. "How much did that cost?"
"I'd guess he has already surpassed the campaign spending limits with that ad alone."
Sodi and local National Action Party leader Mariana Gómez del Campo dismissed the accusations, insisting that Sodi only responded to a reporter's question and there was no prior intent to make a campaign statement while attending Saturday's game.
"It was just luck that I happened to be in the concourse . I didn't pay anything," said Sodi.
López Obrador called on election authorities to investigate the incident, as did PRD borough candidate Ana Gabriela Guevara and Guadalupe Loaeza, the PRD candidate for the federal election district encompassing Miguel Hidalgo.
The Institutional Revolutionary Party also announced its intentions to file a complaint.
Local election officials with the IEDF said they would have no comment until a formal complaint was filed.
However, Yolanda León, an election councilor, called the incident "atypical" and implied that current election laws don't address this type of action.
"This is not something we have contemplated within our repsonsibilities," she told Reforma. "We will have to examine the case, but it seems like something outside our purview since it was not a programmed television campaign spot."
IEDF president Claudia Zavala insisted she was unaware of Sodi's interview, but said that if it was a matter of television advertising, it was under the jurisdiction of the Federal Electoral Institute.
Michel Díaz, the Institutional Revolutionary Party's IEDF delegate said his party would file a motion asking the local election arbiters to review the case and take action if necessary.
Sodi said he wasn't in the least bit concerned about the PRD's or the PRI's threat to file a formal complaint.
"Let them do it," he said. "I didn't contract the time; it was not illegal, so what are they going to do?"
"They are just panicking because Ana Gabriela Guevara is falling in the polls."
Sodi, who ran for Mexico City mayor in 2006 then took a shot at López Obrador.
"He's just rabble rousing. Maybe he'd like to debate me about his term as mayor and then we'll see a show," he said.
Miguel Hidalgo is one of the two boroughs currently held by the National Action Party. The PRD controls the other 14 boroughs. |
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us