Deeply Unpopular, President Pena Nieto to Open Up in State-Of-The-Union teleSUR
go to original August 25, 2016

Approval ratings for Mexico’s President are in a free fall. A recent poll by El Universal, a leading daily newspaper, found that nearly two out of three Mexicans disapprove of Enrique Pena Nieto’s performance in office. (CCTV America)

Amid plummeting approval ratings and accusations that he plagiarized his law school dissertation, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced Wednesday night that he will present his fourth state of the union address in a new format that will include an “open discussion” with youths, as well as several other groups.

"It is my wish to hold a meeting with young people across the country and representatives of different sectors of society in order to share what the government has done in these four years. " Peña Nieto said in a video posted on his social media accounts.

In Mexico, the state of the union address usually refers to a nationally-televised speech, but the format changed in 2006 when leftist lawmakers refused to receive former President Felipe Calderon following accusations of electoral fraud.

Since then, Mexico's presidents have delivered a written document to the Congress, with a summary of the activities, works, and results of the year. This year, however, Peña Nieto says he’s willing to open up a little more, with his approval ratings at 23 percent, according to a recent poll by the newspaper Reforma, the lowest rating for any president since it began the survey in 1995.

This owes largely to the grave human rights violations, corruption scandals and neoliberal policies that have defined his administration from day one.

But in his upcoming meeting with civil society, Peña Nieto will only discuss the advances of his administration, according to what he said in the video recorded from his office.

Read the rest at teleSUR

Related: 125 Thousand Sign Petition to Revoke Mexican President’s Law Degree (PanAm Post)

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