Emilio Álvarez Icaza of the National Civic Front. Photo: senado.gob.mx/

By MARK LORENZANA

Civil society organizations on Wednesday, Oct. 12, launched a new alliance, Unid@s por México, which aims to unite members of the different opposition parties and field a single candidate in the upcoming 2024 presidential elections to go against the administration standard bearer of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s (AMLO) National Regeneration Movement (Morena).

The six civil groups that make up Unid@s por México are UNE México, Yes for Mexico, the National Civic Front, Civil Society for Mexico, United for Mexico and Citizen Power.

Senator Emilio Álvarez Icaza, representing the National Civic Front, stressed the importance of strengthening an opposition bloc to win the 2024 elections.

“With different opposition candidates, the probability of victory decreases. It must be said clearly that with one candidacy we win, and with two, we will most likely lose,” Álvarez Icaza said at a press conference.

He also proposed a selection method that considers the opinion of the citizenry, as well as an agreement on the candidates to be fielded not only for president in 2024, but also for the 2023 elections, where two governorships are up for grabs, as well as 25 seats for local deputies.

Álvarez Icaza made a call to start talks with the different parties, so that they can agree on a coalition of candidates.

In September of this year, the electoral alliance Va Por México coalition — which consisted of the centralist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the conservative National Action Party (PAN) and the left-leaning Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) — was suspended despite reaffirming their alliance on Aug. 30 and releasing a statement that they were set to agree on fielding their chosen candidates in the upcoming 2023 local public elections and the 2024 Mexican general elections.

For her part, the spokesperson for Civil Society Mexico, Ana Lucía Medina, explained that a four-month consultation will be organized to consolidate a “countrywide proposal.”

“We are united by something greater than just rejecting the current government that is destroying our present and future,” Lucía Medina said. “Being here shows that we are united, above all, by hope and the desire to build from our common and shared strengths that are greater than our differences.”

Likewise, Lucía Medina said that Unid@s por México will have as its objective citizen participation and organization, as well as the defending the vote and the National Electoral Institute (INE).