Strange bedfellows in Mexico’s election season

In another case of topsy-turvy political allegiances in Mexico, the conservative party of President Felipe Calderon on Monday appeared to have won the governorship of the state of Baja California Sur with a candidate who once was a former foe from the main leftist party.

Marcos Covarrubias, who defected from the leftist party and ran as a candidate of the right-wing National Action Party, or PAN, won by six percentage points over his nearest competitor, according to preliminary results of Sunday’s balloting, with votes from all polling places tallied.

It is the first time the PAN has won in Baja California Sur, home of the Los Cabos tourist zone. The state has been in the hands of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, since 1999, but the party has been weakened by infighting and poor performances by some incumbents.

Covarrubias, a well-liked federal congressman, bolted from the PRD after Gov. Narciso Agundez passed him over as his choice for a successor.

“The people have spoken,” Covarrubias said Monday, urging his opponents to concede.

Covarrubias found a new home in the PAN despite having previously railed against Calderon, whose disputed victory in 2006 was never recognized by many members of the PRD.

Despite the philosophical differences, the PAN was happy to accommodate Covarrubias to defeat the PRD and, more importantly, Mexico’s former ruling party, the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

Returns showed Covarrubias leading with 40% of the vote. The PRI’s Ricardo Barroso finished second, with 34%. Luis Armando Diaz of the PRD was in third place, with 21%.

The result also appeared to serve as a referendum on Agundez, the incumbent PRD governor, who some analysts had predicted might serve as a drag on his party’s candidate due to lack of public support and other troubles, including fears of a growing role of drug traffickers in the state.

Covarrubias’ defection was the latest case of party-jumping and incongruous alliances as Mexico kicks off a year of statewide votes that will segue into a bigger contest: the 2012 presidential election.

The PAN and PRD, though political opposites, are eager to trip up the PRI, which hopes to retake the presidency after a string of wins in gubernatorial and congressional races since 2006.

The PRI, which ruled for 71 years until it was toppled by the PAN in 2000, leads early polls for president behind Enrique Pena Nieto, the photogenic governor of the central state of Mexico.

On Jan. 30, a PRD-led coalition won the governorship in the southern state of Guerrero behind a candidate who had defected from the PRI. Last year, the PAN and PRD teamed up to capture governorships in three states that had been held by the PRI.

The PAN and PRD head into a key election cycle with political weaknesses. No likely presidential candidate of national stature has emerged from Calderon’s party, which has also been hurt by the country’s soaring drug violence. The PRD is struggling to overcome internal strife.

In Baja California Sur, the PAN candidates won a majority in the state legislature and took one of five mayoralties in play, in Comondu. The PRD and PRI each took two, with Los Cabos going to the PRD.

ken.ellingwood@latimes.com