Mexican Election Results Split; PRI Wins Majority But Does Not Sweep The Board

July 6, 2010 By Staff

Mexican President Felipe Caldeón with his wife, Margarita Zavala.

Today in Latin America

Top Story — Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) won the majority of the seats up for grabs in Sunday’s elections, but lost positions in three key states.

The PRI won nine out of the 12 contests held across the country Sunday, including the gubernatorial seats in Zacatecas, Tlaxcala and Aguascalientes. The party also won in the border cities including Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, which have been recently plagued by drug violence in the past few years.

“This election proves the PRI is the leading political force in the country,” said the party’s president Beatriz Paredes, according to the BBC.

However, the PRI lost positions in the states of Sinaloa, Oaxaca and Puebla, which have been traditionally viewed as party strongholds. These states were taken by an alliance between President Felipe Calderón’s conservative National Action Party (PAN) and the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution.

While the run-up to the elections was plagued by violence and threats toward political candidates from the country’s drug cartels, Sunday’s elections were relatively peaceful.

There was however a lower voter turnout than expected, especially in the Tamaulipas state where gubernatorial candidate Rodolfo Torre Cantú was murdered last week. His brother, Egidio Torre, ran in his place on won 62 percent of the vote.

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Headlines from the Western Hemisphere

North America

Three decapitated bodies discovered Monday in the town of Angostura in Mexico’s Sinaloa state are believed to be linked to drug cartels operating in the region.
Small towns located near the northern Mexican city of Nogales of are slowly being shut down and abandoned due to violence from drug cartels.

Caribbean

According to the Cuban Commission on Human Rights, the number of political prisoners in Cuba has dropped to 167, the lowest number since the Cuban Revolution in 1959.
Caribbean leaders convened Sunday in Montego Bay, Jamaica, concluded that the region should continue to seek economic integration despite the major global crisis.
Puerto Rico’s civil rights commission will investigate police violence during last Wednesday’s demonstrations at the Capitol over the policies of Governor Luis Fortuno.

Central America

Nicaraguan police apprehended a briefcase containing $220,000 in cash on a bus, but the man believed to be carrying the money escaped.
Central American migrants living in Mexico were assaulted by people dressed in Federal Police uniforms who invaded the workers’ shelter last Friday.

Andes

Ecuadorian police found a fiberglass submarine used to transport drugs during a raid last Friday in a town just south of the Colombian border.
The Venezuelan foreign minister attacked comments made by Hillary Clinton after she criticized the country’s human rights record during a tour of Europe.
Paleontologists discovered an ancient whale fossil was discovered in the Peruvian desert.

Southern Cone

Argentine military ruler Jorge Videla will face trial for the disappearance and murder of political prisoners in a Cordoba detention center.
Brazilian head coach Dunga was fired shortly upon arriving in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday after the country’s disappointing World Cup performance.
Paraguayan coach Gerardo Martino and star player Roque Santa Cruz announced that they are retiring from the national team.

Image: Gobierno Federal @ Flickr.

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