Two new parties will be on the 2027 ballot after the National Electoral Institute (INE) granted certification to PAZ and Somos México.
Their official status as political parties gives them immediate access to public funding to the tune of 86.8 million pesos (nearly US $5 million) — 73.6 million pesos ($4.2 million) for ordinary party activities through December, 4 million pesos ($229,000) for gender-specific promotions and 9.2 million pesos ($526,000) for communications, advertising and candidate registration.
The two parties — one of which says it will work with the ruling Morena party, while the other has announced it will serve as loyal opposition — feature familiar faces and long-standing interests.
PAZ — officially Construyendo Sociedades de Paz (Building Peaceful Societies) — is seen as the stronger of the two new political entities, the latest manifestation of a movement led by Hugo Éric Flores, now a federal deputy with Morena.
Flores founded the Social Encounter Party PES in 2014. Viewed as a right-wing, socially conservative political party rooted in evangelical Christianity, PES joined forces with left-leaning Morena which also earned formal party status in 2014.
After losing its registration in 2018, PES re-emerged as the Solidarity Encounter Party, retaining its acronym and continuing as a Morena acolyte. The rebranded PES lost its registration in 2021 and its leadership restructured its organization and created PAZ.
Despite holding right-wing social views, the movement started by Flores has frequently allied with Morena, in exchange for political survival and influence. PAZ’s current leader, Armando González Escoto, is currently Flores’s alternate in the Chamber of Deputies.
Gonzalo Guízar, a PAZ leader and former federal deputy with PES, said PAZ “seeks a completely cordial relationship” with Morena, but insists the new party will not simply be a Morena satellite. “PES began as a movement long before Morena was formed,” Guizar said.
Somos México (We are Mexico) is led by Guadalupe Acosta Naranjo, a former leader of the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), which spawned Morena.
Somos México traces its roots to the grassroots protests in November 2022 and February 2023 against controversial electoral reforms proposed by then-President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Emilio Álvarez Icaza, the party spokesman, is a former senator (2018-2024) and served as president of Mexico City’s Human Rights Commission from 2001-2009.
Other prominent politicians in Somos México’s ranks include Gustavo Madero (former National Action Party leader and senator), Enrique de la Madrid (Tourism Minister from 2015 to 2018 and son of a former president), Fernando Belaunzarán (PRD federal deputy from 2012 to 2015) and Cecilia Soto (Labor Party presidential candidate in 1994).
Among the hopefuls that failed to earn certification from INE were México Tiene Vida (Mexico Has Life) and Que Siga la Democracia (Let Democracy Continue). The electoral agency said it denied registration to these two applicants due to irregularities during the formation process.
With reports from Infobae, El País, Proceso and El Sol de México
