Mexico's president-elect names transition team

MEXICO CITY - Mexican President-elect Enrique Pena Nieto named his transition team Tuesday, marking the start of the handover of power from outgoing president Felipe Calderon.

Nieto told reporters at a press conference he had divided his team into two groups: governmental transition, headed by Luis Videgaray; and political dialog and Security, headed by Miguel Angel Osorio.

The members of his transition cabinet may or may not fill their posts permanently once he takes office on Dec 1, Nieto said, listing his choices.

Included among his transition team are Ildefonso Guajardo Villarreal in Economic Policy, Rosario Robles in Social Policy, and Emilio Lozoya in International Affairs.

In the production sectors, Gerardo Ruiz heads Infrastructure, Alfonso Navarrete Prida heads Labor, Cuauhtemoc Ochoa Fernandez heads Energy and Enrique de la Madrid heads Agriculture.

In other key sectors, Fernando Galindo Fabela is in charge of coordinating with the current Treasury Secretariat to map out an economic plan for 2013.

A six-year national development plan that will take Nieto to the end of his term in 2018 will be led by Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada, while Enrique Jacob Rocha will oversee Entrepreneurs.

Nieto, whose contested election win on July 1 was ratified only last Friday by the Electoral Tribunal, marks the return to power of Mexico's long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled for seven decades before being ousted by Calderon's National Action Party in 2000.

After the tribunal announced its decision, the opposition student movement held a mock burial of democracy.