BERNARD SHAW, CNN ANCHOR: And this timely reminder for our North American viewers: The switch to daylight savings time happens this weekend. At 2:00 a.m. Sunday, turn your clocks ahead by one hour. Now, that prospect is causing problems in Mexico, as CNN's Mexico bureau chief, Harris Whitbeck, reports.</s>HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The implementation of daylight savings time in Mexico was instituted four years ago without major disruptions. This year, the time change has prompted raging controversy. Mexico City's mayor threatened legal action. "We are analyzing the constitutionality of the federal government's decreeing a time change," she says: 16 states in the republic have threatened not to spring forward with the rest of the country next Sunday. And in public schools, parents and teachers alike fret about disruptions in children's schedules. "The kids are already accustomed to getting up at a certain time, and if they have to get up at a different time, they won't want to study or eat their breakfast," he says. The government says the time change will bring about needed energy conservation and that arguments against it are just political.</s>MAURICIO TOUSSAINT, SUBSECRETARY OF ENERGY (through translator): The fact that this is an electoral year has made some groups give this a political tinge without having any solid arguments.</s>WHITBECK: Political analysts say it is a controversy that seems ready-made for an opposition looking to discredit the government.</s>SERGIO AGUAYO, POLITICAL ANALYST: The PRD, one particular party, has found a way to blame the government for a bother that people feel, and that -- that is doesn't have any offsetting benefit that people can see.</s>WHITBECK: The opposition says it is simply looking out for the concerns of the people. (on camera): The federal government says future daylight savings time might be up for discussion, but it insists clocks will go forward one hour this Sunday, that there's simply no time to change that now. Harris Whitbeck, CNN, Mexico City.
Switch to Daylight Savings Time Causing Political Controversy in Mexico