THE HINDU Editorial Vocabulary - June 18, 2018 - Topic 2

Change in Mexico?

Mexico’s ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which has dominated its politics for the better part of a century, seems at risk of a defeat in the July 1 election. Brisk economic growth, low inflation and a sharp fall in unemployment have not contained the steady political slide under the corruption-tainted rule of President Enrique Peña Nieto. Simultaneously, the strong showing in opinion polls for the radical left-wing frontrunner, Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the National Regeneration Movement, is linked to the peso’s sharp decline and a sense of drift. 

The threat of Washington quitting the North American Free Trade Agreement has loomed large over the latter part of Mr. Peña Nieto’s rule. But his challenges at home have been no less formidable. The fallout from the political mishandling of the mysterious disappearance of scores of children in 2014 has been severe. Mr. Peña Nieto’s government has also been at the centre of a political storm beginning with accusations that surfaced last year of illegal funding of his 2012 election. The sacking of the chief prosecutor investigating the allegations eroded the credibility of the government’s attempts to combat graft. Earlier this year, Mexico’s Congress blocked investigations into allegations of bribes received by public figures from a Brazilian firm. Official assertions that corruption was more a matter of perception than of scale have deepened public scepticism about the government’s intentions.

Mr. López Obrador, a three-time contender for the presidency and former Mayor of Mexico City, has sought to capitalise on this widespread disenchantment. While his rhetoric may sound too simplistic, voters could well give him the benefit of the doubt for want of an alternative. All the same, Mr. López Obrador’s rising popularity has sent jitters across the energy industry over the future of the contracts for oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. Meanwhile, the PRI has designated José Antonio Meade, who has held key ministerial portfolios in the present and earlier conservative governments, as a presidential candidate. (Presidents are allowed just the one term in Mexico.) The calculation is that the technocrat’s independence from any party affiliation could broaden his appeal and, by implication, of the PRI with the electorate at large. Whatever the outcome on July 1, Mexico’s transition through the ballot seems an integral feature of the country’s polity. This is no mean achievement in Latin America, where extensions of presidential terms through constitutional fiat are routine. And going forward, FIFA’s decision to award the 2026 World Cup to the three NAFTA nations — Mexico, with the U.S. and Canada — will possibly lead to a more conducive overall climate in the region.

Vocabulary

Dominate: have a commanding influence on; exercise control over.

Example: The company dominates the market for operating system software

Synonyms: control, influence, exercise control over, command, be in command of

Steady: firmly fixed, supported, or balanced; not shaking or moving.

Example: The lighter the camera, the harder it is to hold steady

Synonyms: stable, firm, fixed, secure, fast, safe, immovable, unshakable

Loomed: appear as a shadowy form, especially one that is large or threatening.

Example: Vehicles loomed out of the darkness

Synonyms: emerge, appear, come into view, take shape, materialize

Allegation: a claim or assertion that someone has done something illegal or wrong, typically one made without proof.

Example: He made allegations of corruption against the administration

Synonyms: claim, assertion, charge, accusation, declaration, statement, contention

Assertion: a confident and forceful statement of fact or belief.

Example: His assertion that his father had deserted the family

Synonyms: declaration, contention, statement, claim, opinion, proclamation

Intention: a thing intended; an aim or plan.

Example: She was full of good intentions

Exploration: the action of traveling in or through an unfamiliar area in order to learn about it.

Example: Voyages of exploration

Synonyms: investigation, study, survey, research, inspection, examination, scrutiny

Affiliation: the state or process of affiliating or being affiliated.

Example: He had no particular affiliation, no close associates

Synonyms: association with, connection with/to, alliance with/to, alignment with

Extension: a part that is added to something to enlarge or prolong it; a continuation.

Example: The railroad's southern extension

Conducive: making a certain situation or outcome likely or possible.

Example: The harsh lights and cameras were hardly conducive to a relaxed atmosphere

Synonyms: favorable to, beneficial to, advantageous to, opportune to, propitious to