No clear winner seen in Mexico
Both major parties handed wins, losses
MEXICO CITY – Political parties across the spectrum looked for ways to claim bragging rights Monday after gubernatorial elections in a dozen states yielded surprises but no clear overall victor.
With results still being tallied, the outcome so far offered something of a boost to President Felipe Calderon, whose conservative party avoided an embarrassing sweep by joining with leftist parties in several key states.
Those oil-and-water alliances stunned the surging Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, in two states it has long ruled: Oaxaca and Puebla. Another left-right coalition was poised for victory in Sinaloa state, where PRI candidate Jesus Vizcarra led pre-election polls in spite of allegations of links to drug traffickers.
But the PRI, which ruled Mexico until it lost the presidency in 2000, could also claim signs of a continued comeback. According to nearly complete results, the PRI kept governerships in six states and captured three new ones, including two that were held by Calderon’s National Action Party, or PAN.
If those results hold, the PRI would end up with nine of the 12 governorships up for grabs Sunday – the same number it had going in.
In addition, a PRI candidate in Ciudad Juarez overcame accusations of drug ties to win the mayor’s seat, and the party won every municipal election in the states of Baja California and Aguascalientes.
The PRI, which ruled with a mix of corruption and authoritarianism, says it has learned from its mistakes. It wants to recapture the presidency in 2012. It dominated midterm elections last year.
Political analysts said Sunday’s results reflected varying local conditions and personalities, and probably carried no overarching national message. Voters in 14 states went to the polls to pick 12 governors and hundreds of state and municipal office-holders.
Calderon may be buoyed by taking three states from the PRI, but he presides over a wobbly economy and a controversial drug war that has left 23,000 people dead since 2006. The rightist PAN lost every statewide contest in which it ran alone.
“It leaves everybody in pretty much the same place,” said Daniel Lund, a Mexico City-based pollster and analyst. “The PAN is a weak government. They found a way not to be completely humiliated in this election.”
PAN officials touted the success of alliances with the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, in beating the PRI in states where it was thought to have a lock such as Oaxaca and Puebla.