Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Tuesday, July 09, 2013

PRI fights back (fairly?)

The elections in Baja might be a milestone in the PRI comeback.

Race tight for governor of key Mexico border state

Both sides claimed victory Monday in the election for governor of the key Mexican border state of Baja California and authorities said mistakes had been made in preliminary vote counts…

Baja California (in brown)

Preliminary results from the Baja race with about 96 percent of the vote counted showed Francisco "Kiko" Vega of the conservative National Action Party with a nearly 3 percentage point lead, suggesting his coalition might be able to hold onto the governorship his party first won 24 years ago, the first recognized opposition victory in Mexico's modern history.

But the state electoral council announced early Monday that mistakes had been made in the preliminary vote counts…

Vega, who ran in a coalition with the Democratic Revolution Party, claimed victory.

But so did Fernando Castro Trenti of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party…

National Action said a series of dirty tricks in Baja and other state races marked a return to old strong-arm tactics that helped the PRI hold power for seven decades.

Party leader Gustavo Madero had been cooperating with the PRI and President Enrique Pena Nieto to enact key national reforms in public education and telecom laws, and on upcoming energy and tax reform. But he suggested that could be at an end.

In the local races, the PRI appeared to be winning the mayorship of the border city of Tijuana, while National Action was ahead in Mexicali, the Baja California state capital. Further east along the border, National Action was ahead in the cities of Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros.

To the south, National Action led in the colonial city of Oaxaca, while the PRI claimed to have won the mayorship of the resort city of Cancun…