State Elections Solidify PRI's Position in Mexico
State Elections Solidify PRI's Position in Mexico
The victory of Eruviel Ávila in the race for governor of the State of Mexico is the latest in a string of PRI victories.
In one of the final electoral litmus tests before Mexico’s federal and legislative elections on July 1, 2012, the gubernatorial contests on Sunday in Nayarit, Coahuila and the State of Mexico resulted in a complete sweep by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (Institutional Revolutionary Party—PRI). This rout sets the stage for a possible PRI return to power next year, replacing the term-limited President Felipe Calderón and his Partido Acción Nacional (National Action Party—PAN).
Much of the post-election commentary deservedly focused on the strength of the PRI, the longtime hegemon that lost power in 2000, and the inability of PAN and the Partido de la Revolución Democrática (Party of the Democratic Revolution—PRD) to mount credible challenges. The PRI’s average margin of victory in the three states exceeded 25 percentage points, leading international observers to predict that the PRI had cemented a return to the presidential palace in 2012.
In Mexico, the reaction was more tinged with worry, both over the specific litany of questionable campaign tactics as well as the broader meaning of the PRI’s likely return to power. An op-ed in the Mexican daily El Universal noted that Sunday’s elections “prove that the Institutional Revolutionary Party is willing to do anything to recover power.”
Read the full text of the article at AmericasQuarterly.org.
Patrick Corcoran has written about Mexican politics for World Politics Review and Harvard International Review. He blogs at Gancho
