In the first state governor election of the year in south-western state of Guerrero, the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD)-led coalition candidate Angel Aguirre secured victory against the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) faction in a bitterly fought campaign.
The left wing coalition won by over 13 percentage points to hold onto the state governorship. Thankfully, there were no major violent incidences in a state that has been dogged this year by fighting between rival drug cartels.
Perhaps the biggest story of the election was the pitiful performance of the National Action Party (PAN), of president Felipe Calderon, which received less than two percent of the vote after its candidate decided to back the PRD in the week before the vote. Even before the U-turn, Spanish-language national newspaper El Universal only had the party at 4 percent.
PRI candidate Manuel Añorve cried foul and signalled he would contest the decision.
“The dirty war in this election can’t and shouldn’t be left unpunished,” Añorve told the press. Añorve charged the PRD with “ buying votes” and “plundering.” Ironically, the complaints were similar to those of PRD-candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador after the 2006 presidential election.
Mexico City mayor Marcelo Ebrard was delighted with the victory and signaled it would be the first of many. He is in prime position to be the left wing candidate in 2012.
“This demonstrates that the people can overcome the PRI apparatus,” said Ebrard. “They overcame the intentions of the PRI.”
Immediately after the result the PRI tried to distance Enrique Peña Nieto, the governor of the Estado de Mexico and shoe-in candidate for the PRI in 2012, from the contest even though he was prominent in supporting Añorve.
Instead, the PRI said citizens of Mexico City should ask Ebrard to justify the alleged money that made its way to Guerrero from city coffers. Various Pristas said the outcome would be different come 2011.
On February 6 citizens of PRD-run Baja California go to the polls.
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