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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | February 2005 
Easy Leftist Victory a Shocker in Mexico
 John Rice - Associated Press
 Acapulco, Mexico - What was supposed to be a tight state election turned into a rout for the Democratic Revolution Party, boosting Mexico's main leftist party's chances for the presidency in 2006.
Running behind former Acapulco Mayor Zeferino Torreblanca, the party on Sunday ended 76 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero.
Official state election results had Torreblanca winning 55 to 42 percent over the PRI's Hector Astudillo - embarrassing several respected polling companies, which had the men in a statistical tie before the election.
Thousands of celebrating Democratic Revolution supporters danced in Acapulco's main plaza early yesterday as others cruised past tourists on the Costera boulevard honking horns and waving yellow party flags.
In a post-midnight news conference, Torreblanca - who made his money on real estate investments - promised to govern "for the poorest of Guerrero, for our indigenous brothers, for the women and for all the others."
Two other state elections Sunday went as predicted: Democratic Revolution held on to the governorship of Baja California Sur, where the resorts of Los Cabos are located, while the PRI held on to Quintana Roo, the site of Canc?n.
The victory in Guerrero was an unusually emotion-filled one for Democratic Revolution, which was born in 1989 out of a merger of leftist parties and PRI dissidents. The party says 300 of its activists have been killed for political motives since then in the state.
The victory also improves the presidential chances of the party's most popular figure, Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
He has led nearly all recent polls for the upcoming national election, but his party finished third in the last two presidential votes and until now governed only three states on its own. The party's weakness has cast doubts on its ability to win a nationwide campaign.
"It gives us a strong push toward 2006, without any doubt," said party president Leonel Godoy.
President Vicente Fox's National Action Party showed that it is not yet a true nationwide force. It managed barely 1 percent of the vote in Guerrero, 10 percent in Baja California Sur and finished third in Quintana Roo.
The loss stung the PRI, which has been on the rebound since the shock of losing the presidency in 2000.
The party won seven of 10 state elections last year, though several were by tight margins. The victories had improved the presidential hopes of party president Roberto Madrazo - and his rivals in the party are sure to see the heavy loss in Guerrero as ammunition against him. |
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