Mexico’s Ruling Party Claims 2 Governorships

The long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party claimed victory today in gubernatorial elections in two prosperous northern border states, but the main opposition party charged widespread vote-tampering and fraud.

Mexicans cast votes Sunday for governorships in seven of the country’s 31 states, for 400 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Congress, and for a handful of state and municipal posts. No official returns are expected until July 14.

But the government party claimed an overwhelming victory. “We can affirm that we obtained clear triumphs,” top party spokesman Juan Saldana Rosell said in a statement. He said the claim is based on polling results from around the country and includes all seven gubernatorial races.

The two most closely watched races were for governor in heavily industrialized Nuevo Leon, along the Texas border, and the rich agricultural state of Sonora, just south of Arizona.

Shortly after the polls closed Sunday evening, President Miguel de la Madrid’s Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI--in power for 56 years--claimed victory in both races, although it acknowledged not having the full results.

Violence Near Border

Violence broke out at San Luis Rio Colorado near the Arizona border when about 200 supporters of the opposition National Action Party, or PAN, threw rocks at the police station and burned five patrol cars, authorities reported. They were protesting the detention of 18 youths for electoral disturbances.

The PAN supporters charged that a ballot box they forcibly opened was stuffed with PRI votes, a charge PRI leaders denied.

“This removes the democratic mask of this government,” said Adalberto Rosas Lopez, the PAN gubernatorial candidate in Sonora.

News reports indicated a heavier turnout than in past elections. Mexico has 36.2 million registered voters.

Polls in Sonora and Nuevo Leon remained open later than scheduled so that those in line could cast ballots.

3-1 Margin Claimed

Rodolfo Felix Valdes, the PRI’s gubernatorial candidate in Sonora, claimed a 3-1 margin of victory over his main opponent, Rosas Lopez.

In Nuevo Leon, PRI gubernatorial candidate Jorge Trevino claimed victory after receiving about half the results. His opponent, Canales Clariond, gathered about 250 supporters in front of the governor’s palace to protest alleged electoral fraud.

PAN had put together a strong challenge in both states and in the central state of Guanajuato.

The PRI was not considered in danger of losing its tight grip on the nation’s political system. But three years of economic crisis and austerity have eroded some of the party’s popularity among the middle and working classes, bolstering support for the conservative PAN.