And the threat of defeat, so often present in the Meade campaign, has become reality

CITY OF MEXICO (apro) .- This very early Sunday, José Antonio Meade donned a dark suit as he went to a party. He simply omitted the tie. From his home in the old district of Oxtopulco, south of this capital, he left shortly before ten o'clock in the morning to vote. Confidence later deposited him in the Church of San Sebastián in Chimalistac, where he prayed, with his wife Juana, his three children and his father Dionicio, Sir, for that he did well in the elections. But apparently no deities heard it and in the afternoon the clouds darkened his mind, and the threat of defeat so often present in his campaign, became a reality.

For six months Meade and his team led by Aurelio Nuño designed a campaign strategy with which they expected to reach Sunday, July 1 with a huge advantage over Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Ricardo Anaya.

According to his accounts, Meade would take a month of pre-campaigning to position himself within the PRI and convince the PRI that he was one of their own. Therefore, with the support of the then party leader, Enrique Ochoa Reza, and President Enrique Peña Nieto, he will quickly rise to the polls and, by the middle of the campaign, will install himself at the second place and, in a closing month, reach López Obrador.

The strategy, however, began to fail. The PRIistas have never recognized Meade as one of their own, the immaculate experience of "citizen candidate" against corruption failed, the speech did not have any d & # 39; impact and image of the former federal official did not project security and confidence. PRI leadership has caused trouble for Ochoa Reza for the hidden selection in Toluca of multi-member candidates for MPs and Senators, as well as for the lack of support in the states.

Changes that did not happen

Before the disaster of the campaign and the PRI two months after the end of the campaign, there were changes in the direction of the PRI: a former member PRI entered, Rene Juárez Cisneros, friend of Arturo Montiel and Peña Nieto, The Meade team talked about substantial changes that never took place.

The campaign began to decline more quickly, after Meade stagnated in third place and, in panic, came to the aid of the Peña government accuses Panista Ricardo Anaya of bad business

At the same time, López Obrador was engaged in a dirty campaign accusing him of hiding property and threatening governability

. At the end of the campaign, they tried to give the impression of being in second place in polls with personal surveys that no one accused as certain.

With the negative burden of a campaign that has not worked, the failed experiment of the "citizen candidate" "And the burden of a party and a President Peña marked by corruption, Jose Antonio Meade arrived on Sunday July 1 to vote for himself and pray God to do the "miracle" to get 20 million votes as promised by Enrique Ochoa Reza and Aurelio Nuño.

But at eight o'clock on the night of July 1, at PRI's facilities and with his face obscured, Meade acknowledged that he had failed and that in the presidential election, Des Manuel López Obrador [19659003] With his voice cut, he thanked his wife Juana Cuevas for his support, as well as the PRI and his team led by Aurelio Nuño

Three hours in advance, Meade and the PRI national leader, René Juárez Cisneros, admitted the defeat not only of the presidential candidacy but of the seven governors and the head of the Mexico City, and only maintained its hopes in Yucatan.

After a brief speech, Meade, the PRI national leadership and all members of the PRI withdrew, there was no appeal for a previous celebration, only a press room was installed in the parking lot