**Lack of Enthusiasm in the PAN: Internal Elections Struggle with Voter Turnout**
On November 10, 2024, the National Action Party (PAN) held internal elections to select its leader for the 2024-2027 term. However, the elections were marked by significant voter abstention, with 52% of the party’s members not participating. The election saw Jorge Romero Herrera emerge victorious with 114,749 votes, while his contender, Adriana Dávila Fernández, garnered 30,939 votes. Despite these numbers, the low turnout of 147,569 voters out of 305,709 eligible members has raised concerns about the party’s ability to engage its base.
Dávila Fernández criticized the election process as lacking fairness and legitimacy, citing it as an inequitable contest. She expressed her concerns on social media, arguing that the abstention sends a clear message about the party’s struggles to engage its members. Furthermore, in key areas where the PAN traditionally holds power, such as Aguascalientes and Guanajuato, Romero’s victory margins were substantial. However, in Baja California, where the party has been out of power since 2019, Romero barely defeated Dávila by a slim margin of 1.11%.
Despite these challenges, Romero Herrera expressed his intention to engage in dialogue with the government. However, President Claudia Sheinbaum raised allegations against Romero, labeling him as a leader of a corrupt network in the real estate sector of Mexico City’s Benito Juárez area.
**Secondary Article: Electoral Dynamics in Baja California’s PAN Leadership Race**
Coinciding with the national leadership election, Baja California also held its PAN elections, with Lizbeth Mata Lozano securing the state leadership with 2,229 votes. Her opponent, Amintha Briceño Cinco, received 1,934 votes, reflecting a narrow victory for Mata. The turnout was similarly low, with only 45.27% of the local party members voting.
Ernesto Ruffo Appel, a former governor and long-time critic of the current party leadership, highlighted internal control issues within the PAN. He accused the party’s upper echelons, allegedly led by Marko Cortés, of manipulating internal processes and suppressing broader membership engagement.
Ruffo and other PAN veterans, including José Guadalupe Osuna Millán, advocate for a party-wide reform focused on increasing transparency and inclusivity. Osuna emphasized the importance of regional autonomy and criticized the current leadership for centralizing decisions at the national level, which he believes hampers local governance and autonomy.
Both national and regional elections have reignited debates within the party about its future direction and ability to mobilize support among its members, urging a reconsideration of strategies to strengthen its institutional presence in Mexico’s political landscape.