No talks on key Mexico reforms until spat resolved- opposition

By Dave Graham and Ana Isabel Martinez

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A multi-party alliance to modernize Mexico's economy will not discuss pending energy and tax reforms until an electoral spat between the opposition and the government is resolved, the head of the main leftist party said on Tuesday.

Jesus Zambrano, chairman of the opposition Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), said there could be no talks on these reforms until the government had taken clear steps to punish those responsible for a vote-buying scandal in the Gulf state of Veracruz that was exposed this month.

"There won't be (talks) about anything that is not to do with the political and legal ... structure that will enable us to get out of this impasse," he told Reuters in an interview.

President Enrique Pena Nieto's ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, has been forced on the defensive since the conservative National Action Party (PAN) put out recordings of PRI officials advocating the use of government funds to secure votes in Veracruz in elections due on July 7.

"I tell you, the main responsibility for whether the pact continues lies with the PRI and the government," said Zambrano.

The PAN and the PRD, who signed up to the three-way agreement with the PRI known as the "Pact for Mexico", have said heads must roll over Veracruz for the deal to stay alive.

Pena Nieto, the first PRI president in 12 years, forged the pact to create a platform for economic reform when he fell short of a congressional majority in last year's elections.

The PRI dominated Mexico during the past century, ruling for 71 straight years until the PAN defeated it in 2000 elections. By then, the PRI's name had become synonymous with vote-buying, corruption and a range of other underhanded political tricks.

The opposition has accused the PRI of using Social Development Ministry funds earmarked to fight extreme poverty to buy votes, and Zambrano urged Veracruz's PRI governor Javier Duarte and Social Development Minister Rosario Robles to resign.

But he stopped short of making their resignations a condition of the PRD continuing in the pact, saying the party would make its decision based on the government's response.

"The country needs the pact, that's why we called it 'for Mexico'. Pena Nieto needs the pact," Zambrano said.

Pena Nieto has said opening up state oil giant Pemex and improving Mexico's weak tax take are vital to spur stronger growth in Latin America's second biggest economy.

(Reporting by Dave Graham and Ana Isabel Martinez; Editing by Sandra Maler and Philip Barbara)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/no-talks-key-mexico-reforms-until-spat-resolved-210609673.html

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