Election Win Boosts Mexico's Former Ruling Party
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By REUTERS
Published: July 4, 2005
Filed at 1:36 p.m. ET
TOLUCA, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexico's leading opposition party, which
ruled for most of the 20th century, won a major victory in weekend
state elections that boosts its chances of returning to power next
year.
Skip to next paragraph Party leaders said their wide margin of victory
on Sunday in the State of Mexico, which rings most of the capital,
showed the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, would win the
presidential elections in July 2006.
``This is how we are heading toward 2006 and I am sure the party is
heading for the presidency,'' Roberto Madrazo, the PRI's national
leader, said late on Sunday night.
The PRI won almost 48 percent of the vote in the State of Mexico, the
country's most populous state with almost 15 million people.
It also held a narrow lead in the governor's election in the small
western state of Nayarit.
Until a few weeks ago, opinion polls had showed a close race in the
State of Mexico election, widely seen as a key test ahead of next
year's elections.
But President Vicente Fox's conservative National Action Party (PAN)
and the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, faded in
the last weeks of the campaign and both won only around 25 percent
support.
The victory demonstrated the strength of the PRI's grass-roots network,
developed over more than seven decades in power.
Despite being ousted by Fox five years ago, it is still the biggest
party in Congress and wields considerable power in towns and villages
across the country.
EFFICIENT NETWORK
The other two main parties have stronghold states but both lack the
PRI's presence in all corners of the country.
``The PRI's territorial infrastructure is the most efficient of all the
parties in Mexico, and that will be reflected in 2006,'' said Juan
Pablo Cordoba, a political analyst at the UNAM university in Mexico.
Opinion polls for the presidential elections show Mexico City's
left-wing mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the PRD with a wide
lead, although it is expected to narrow in the coming months, setting
up a tight three-way race.
Analysts said the PRI victory on Sunday was a clear boost, even if it
did not guarantee a triumphant return to power.
``The PRI would be mistaken to assume it. This is not enough to believe
it will win (the presidency) but in one of the most important states in
electoral terms, it has a significant presence that could be decisive
in 2006,'' said political analyst Carlos Sirvent.
Lopez Obrador is hugely popular in the capital but analysts say he
could struggle to build enough of a national structure to win the
presidency. He had joined the PRD's candidate in the State of Mexico on
the campaign trail but backed away in the final weeks as she seemed
certain to lose.
Madrazo is running for the PRI's presidential nomination, although he
faces tough opposition from some senior party members.
Santiago Creel, who served as Fox's interior minister until last month,
is expected to win the PAN's presidential nomination.
Fox is barred under the constitution from seeking re-election. His
historic victory in 2000 raised hopes of major reforms and but he has
failed to deliver on promises of rapid economic growth and millions of
new jobs.
Opposition parties have also blocked Fox's proposed tax, energy and
labor reforms in Congress.
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