Mexico City - Mexican President Felipe Calderon was dealt a
massive blow in midterm legislative elections, which are widely
considered to be a major test for the 2012 presidential poll.
The Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI) wrested control of the
lower house of the Mexican Congress from Calderon's National Action
Party (PAN), according to preliminary results.
Many had little hope in the PRI after it lost power in 2000, after
71 years. But on Monday, the daily El Universal proclaimed on its
front page: 'The PRI returns.'
Conservative Calderon, in power since 2006 after defeating the
centre-left Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador by just 0.58 percentage
points, cannot stand for re-election himself. But Sunday's result
confirmed that he will have trouble pushing through his favoured
measures in the second half of his mandate.
The PRI also won at least four of the weekend's six elections for
governor. The party held its ground in Nuevo Leon, Campeche and
Colima, and also won in the state of Queretaro, which was a PAN
stronghold. The PRI was also claiming victory in San Luis Potosi,
though no clear results were yet available there.
The PAN only won in Sonora, a state in which a fire last month at
a day care centre claimed the lives of 48 children. With the tragedy
fresh in mind, the state's voters turned away from the ruling PRI.
The PAN had campaigned aggressively against the PRI and called on
voters to validate at the polls the fight against drug traffickers
launched by Calderon since his inauguration, with thousands of
soldiers and federal police officers deployed across the country.
Mexicans showed their president that they remain worried about the
recession and increasing violence, and they are also growing wary of
politicians.
The campaign by some civic groups asking people to annul the vote
- a gesture of rejecting politics in a country with compulsory adult
suffrage - had some effect, with 6.5 per cent of the ballots being
void, which was well above the usual percentage.
'We must be sensitive and heed the call made to us by those who
decided not to vote or not to support a party today,' Calderon said
in a televised address.
The PAN still has no strong candidate for the 2012 presidential
election, after holding the presidency for two consecutive terms. The
PRI has for three years fielded Mexico state Governor Enrique Pena
Nieto, who emerged as the winner of the midterm election.
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