Tucson, Arizona Monday, 14 July 2003
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MEXICO CITY - Mexico's former ruling party won its fourth of the country's six
state gubernatorial elections, according to preliminary results released Sunday,
generating more momentum for its efforts to regain power from President Vicente
Fox.
The outcome of the Campeche state gubernatorial election was released as federal
authorities were set to confirm that Fox's conservative National Action Party,
or PAN, lost ground in the July 6 midterm congressional elections. The former
ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, and the leftist opposition
gained seats.
Since he took office in 2000, Fox has struggled with an often hostile Congress,
and his party was hoping for a majority in the last three years of his term.
However, the results - in which no party gained a majority - set the stage for
three more years of legislative inaction.
The PRI lost the presidency to Fox in 2000 after 71 years of rule. But it staged
a national comeback in the July 6 elections, including winning four governor's
races.
That includes Campeche state, in which the PRI was given the official lead Sunday.
PRI candidate Ortado Valdez received about 4,000 more votes than the PAN's Juan
Carlos del Rio, although the results were not certified and likely will be contested,
state election official Luis Maury said.