8 Million App Users, TV Soap Opera Ad… & the PAN Still Can’t Find New Members
This article by Arturo Daen originally appeared in the February 9, 2026 edition of Sin Embargo.
Mexico City. The National Action Party (PAN) signed contracts for 43 million pesos in the last quarter of 2025 to develop an application, buy caps and t-shirts, advertise in cinemas, in the Reforma newspaper and even in Televisa’s TV y Novelas magazine, and yet its affiliation campaign has meager numbers.
Journalist Álvaro Delgado reported on January 26 that from October to December, the right-wing party saw a mere 1 percent increase in its membership. This occurred despite the party offering to give away iPhones to attract young voters (no official information has yet been released regarding their distribution), and spending 6 million pesos on rebranding and its relaunch event at the Frontón México in Mexico City.
These expenses are in addition to social media advertising costs. In the last 90 days, from November 1 to January 29, PAN leader Jorge Romero Herrera spent 5.8 million pesos on Facebook and Instagram ads, while the PAN party spent 2.2 million. In total, at least 8 million pesos were spent on social media advertising, according to the Meta Ad Library.
PAN Expenditures on Propaganda & Image Re-launch
| ACQUISITIONS | AMOUNT PAID (MXN) |
|---|---|
| T-shirts, caps and bags | $23,300,734.00 |
| PAN App and affiliate validation | $8,187,280.00 |
| Last 90 days of META ads | $8,000,000.00 |
| Redesign and relaunch event | $6,000,000.00 |
| LED screens and advertising software | $5,951,385.00 |
| Spots in Cinepolis theaters | $3,587,226.00 |
| New website | $1,064,000.00 |
| TV and Novelas magazine ads on Televisa | $538,323.00 |
| Propaganda in the app and website of Reforma newspaper | $580,000.00 |
| Total since October 2025 | $57,208,948.00 |
8 million for an App & a Biometric Data Validation System
One of the contracts available on the National Transparency Platform is the one signed by the PAN with the company Servicios Tecnológicos y de Software La Angostura, for 8 million 187 thousand pesos to create “an application for the National Registry of Militants” of Acción Nacional.
The document details that the application would include a system for validating “party affiliation by consulting the INE database,” and a facial biometric comparison function for “selfie validation versus voter ID photo.” “Facial validation with the INE is subject to an agreement between the party and the INE,” it states regarding the review of biometric data of potential members and its comparison with the Institute’s voter ID records.
Other features acquired by Acción Nacional include a system for validating the Unique Population Registry Code (CURP), and a service for “digital document validation of the voter credential through optical character recognition”.
In the section on “digital enrollment,” the “user geolocation” is even mentioned, and that the application could identify that someone who wants to register as a member of the PAN party does not appear on lists such as that of the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control, or is a politically exposed person, that is, someone who holds a public office in Mexico.
Politicians from the National Action Party have criticized initiatives such as the creation of a Single Identity Platform, pointing to the risk of it including sensitive data of Mexicans. However, in the case of its implementation, the contract mentions the collection of biometric data, “technical tests carried out based on algorithms validated according to international standards, to measure and analyze the anatomical characteristics of the applicant.”
Another contract was for the “acquisition of a website for the National Action Party”, for an amount of 1 million 64 thousand pesos with the company Comuna 18.
Advertisements in Cinemas, Reforma & TV y Novelas
The PAN’s communication strategy included signing a 3,587,000 peso contract with Cinépolis to broadcast 30-second PAN campaign ads in 156 movie theaters between November 6 and December 25, 2025. “The ads are broadcast in each of the theaters included in the contracted schedule, prior to the start of each movie showing, throughout the day,” the contract states.
In addition, the National Action Party (PAN) agreed to pay Televisa 538,323 pesos for advertisements for the party to appear in four editions of TV y Novelas magazine between October 20 and November 24. Each page of advertising cost 116,000 pesos.
Another contract was awarded to the Reforma newspaper to disseminate PAN propaganda on the application and website of said media between October 29 and November 19, 2025, agreeing to a payment of 580,000 pesos.
Millions Spent on T-shirts, Caps & LED Ads
In the PAN’s promotional campaign, the contract with the highest value in the last quarter of 2025 was awarded to the company Belmil, Imagen y Publicidad. It was for 23.3 million pesos to provide the PAN with 155,555 blue and white t-shirts with its logo; 198,000 caps; 400,000 bags; and 75,550 blue and white flags.
Another contract, for 5,951,000 pesos, was for the acquisition of 90 LED screens, their software, and their installation in public spaces displaying PAN (National Action Party) propaganda. In this case, the purchase was made from the company Lumina Pantallas Digitales.
The PAN Buys Books… From the PAN
The review of the PAN’s spending in the last quarter of 2025 identified a contract with the company Producciones Sin Sentido Común, for an amount of 306,000 pesos for the purchase of 2,000 copies of two books.
One of them is titled “Unbridled Power.” A quick internet search reveals that the first result with that title is a book by Fernando Rodríguez Doval , a member of the National Action Party (PAN), published by the PAN’s Secretariat of Strategic Studies and Analysis. In that case, the PAN paid 144,000 pesos for 1,000 copies.
The second book is titled “27 Rules of the Humanist Leader.” It is a text by Julio Castillo López, a member of the National Action Party (PAN) and President of the Rafael Preciado Hernández Foundation. The PAN paid 162,000 pesos for 1,000 copies, at a unit price of 162 pesos.
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