MEXICO CITY, Mexico: The once-dominant PRI conceded defeat on Sunday to Mexico’s ruling party in a key state election seen as a prelude to the 2024 presidential vote.
A total of 12.6m people were eligible to vote for the governor of the State of Mexico, a region on the outskirts of the capital which encapsulates all the country’s contrasts, from criminal violence to economic dynamism.
The Institutional Revolutionary Party is a political party in the country that was founded in 1929 and held uninterrupted power in the country for almost 71 years, from 1929 to 2000, first as the National Revolutionary Party, then as the Party of the Mexican Revolution and finally as the PRI beginning in 1946.
The country’s main opposition party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, has seen its influence wane as President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s left-wing Movement for National Regeneration (Morena) makes gains.
The PRI’s candidate recognized on Sunday the “triumph” of Delfina Gomez, Morena’s candidate, after the electoral commission released preliminary results. With 88.1 percent of votes counted, Gomez had a nine percent lead over her PRI rival.
Former teacher Gomez thanked her voters who “made this victory possible”. Gomez’s bid has been boosted by the popularity of Obrador, in office since December 2018. Mario Vargas Llosa, the Nobel Prize in Literature winner views the PRI, which held power from 1930 to 2000, and then again between 2012 and 2018, had been described in the past as a “perfect dictatorship”.
A loss in the State of Mexico would deny PRI its historical bastion. “I hope it will be a beautiful day for the Mexiconses,” the term for inhabitants of the state, said Gomez as she cast her ballot.
Despite approval ratings of around 60 percent, the constitution requires Obrador to step down in 2024 at the end of a single six-year mandate, leaving his political allies jostling to replace him. Morena is already in power in 22 of the country’s 32 states, either alone or with its allies.
Microcosm for Mexico
Many residents of the country’s most populous State of Mexico, lack basic services, even as they live alongside wealthy areas peppered with luxurious homes in a stark illustration of the country’s inequalities. Home to the Teotihuacan pyramids, the state is also a hub for industrial giants such as Nestle and Ford. Its economy represents 9.1 percent of the nation’s GDP.
The State of Mexico is one of the country’s most violent regions. More than 900 murders were registered in the region between January-April 2023, out of a total of around 9,900 countrywide.
With 17 million residents — more than Switzerland, Belgium and many other European countries — the State of Mexico is a “mini-Mexican Republic,” according to the political scientist Miguel Tovar from Alterpraxis. — AFP
