governorship in the country's western hinterland on Sunday in a sign
the main opposition party still needs to show voters it has modernized
to win the presidency in 2012.
In the shadow of harrowing drug violence, voters in Guerrero gave the
leftist Party of Democratic Revolution, or PRD, victory over the
powerful Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, one of six state
elections ahead of next year's presidential race.
Both parties claimed victory on Sunday night and accused the other of
trying to rig the vote. But with 45 percent of the vote counted, the
PRD's candidate Angel Aguirre won 57 percent of the ballot, Guerrero
State Electoral Institute said on its website. That compared with 42
percent for the PRI's candidate Manuel Anorve. President Felipe
Calderon's National Action Party, or PAN, which failed to garner
support for its candidate and threw its backing behind the PRD, won
the remainder.
"We're tired of the PRI's corruption and the power the party holds
over the country's unions," said a waitress in Acapulco, Guerrero's
main city, who declined to give her name.
The PRI was kicked out by voters in 2000, putting an end to its
71-year rule in the oil exporting nation and top U.S. trade partner.
But the party is making a comeback, capitalizing on a divided left and
deep disappointment at a decade under the
PAN.
The center-left PRI won a majority in Congress in 2009 and has
maintained a strong presence at the state level, holding more than
half of Mexico's governorships.
The loss in Guerrero is not seen as a major setback, but the party is
looking for momentum to reach the presidency and it signals voters are
wary of the party's autocratic past, when party cronies ran the
country based on a system of patronage.
"LAB TEST"
The PRI still controls large blocs of voters from unions and farmer
groups and the Guerrero vote was marred by accusations that Anorve was
on the payroll of drug gangs, which he strongly denied.
"This vote is a first lab test for the election in the State of
Mexico," analyst Raymundo Riva Palacio told local radio, referring to
the populous state on the edge of Mexico City that could sway the
balance of power in Mexico.
Voters in Guerrero, one of Mexico's poorest states a few hours drive
from the Mexican capital, were spared the kind of cartel attacks that
have terrorized the region over the past few years, although rumors of
violence dissuaded some.
Almost 3,000 people have died in drug war violence in Guerrero over
the past four years as gangs fight over Acapulco's port, its links to
Mexico City and its marijuana and opium plantations hidden in lush
valleys.
Calderon is under pressure to contain surging drug violence across the
country after launching his army-backed crackdown in December 2006.
More than 34,000 people have died in drug killings since then, and
extortion, kidnapping and crime are rampant, worrying business
leaders.
