Mexico’s PRI: Lowest Margin in 6 Decades

Partial results from Mexico’s presidential election show the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party winning, but with the lowest margin in its six decades of rule, sources said Friday.

The figures from the Federal Electoral Commission, which a reliable source leaked to the press, show presidential candidate Carlos Salinas de Gortari ahead with 47.4% of the popular vote.

Cuauhtemoc Cardenas of the leftist coalition National Democratic Front was second with 26.7%, and Manuel J. Clouthier of the conservative National Action Party third with 20.7%.

The count is for 11.7 million of the 38 million registered voters, or 30.7%.

Seats at Stake

In addition to the presidency, 64 Senate seats and 500 seats in the newly expanded Chamber of Deputies also are at stake.

The Federal Electoral Commission, which controls the vote count, released fragmentary, unofficial results early Thursday, one day after the nationwide elections. It said final results were not expected until today.

The leak of a vote count appeared to be made to deflect growing speculation that the ruling party, known as the PRI, had suffered a devastating loss.

No presidential candidate since the PRI’s inception in 1929 has won with less than 70% of the vote.

The slow vote count also is making evident splits within the party between the 40-year-old Salinas de Gortari and his closest associates, known as technocrats, and the old-style politicians.

The Federal Electoral Commission is headed by Interior Secretary Manuel Bartlett, who was one of Salinas de Gortari’s chief rivals for the PRI’s presidential nomination.

Salinas de Gortari has insisted throughout the campaign that a new era of modern Mexico will be recognized in which opposition voices will be heard.

In issuing his proclamation of victory Thursday, Salinas de Gortari said: “It is the new political reality of the nation, and with which we will have to coexist in a harmonious and respectful fashion.”

Candidates Warned

The commission has warned candidates against claiming victory before the final tally is in.

“No official preliminary results have been issued on the presidential election. Consequently, claims by candidates and parties are not based on any official information,” the commission said in a brief statement Thursday night.

Bartlett first said technical difficulties with a new computer system delayed the returns. He later blamed bad weather.

The government says the elections were peaceful and clean. PRI officials have said charges by opposition parties that the balloting was fraudulent was simply a publicity-seeking move.

‘System Is Corrupt’

“The Mexican political system is corrupt and lacks credibility,” Clouthier said in announcing a protest march in downtown Mexico City.

“As sure as I am that I did not win the presidency, I can affirm the electoral process was not clean,” Gumersindo Magana, candidate of the small, conservative Mexican Democratic Party, was quoted as saying Friday by the government newspaper El Nacional.

Political analyst Jorge Castaneda said Cardenas, who split away from the PRI and ran as the candidate of the leftist coalition National Democratic Front, apparently did well in urban areas.

The question is “whether the votes that come in from the countryside will be enough to compensate for the Cardenas lead in urban Mexico,” Castaneda said.

Meet With Officials

He defined urban as any town of at least 5,000 people, accounting for two-thirds of the 38 million registered voters.

Cardenas, Clouthier and presidential candidate Rosario Ibarra de Piedra of the tiny, radical Revolutionary Workers Party met with federal officials Wednesday night and issued a statement accusing the government of massive fraud.

Magana did not sign the statement but also accused the government of fraud.

The Assembly for Effective Suffrage, a civic watchdog group, recorded 1,100 cases of voting irregularities ranging from ballot-stuffing to tampering with voter registration rolls.

Complaints Filed

Fourteen complaints were filed with the attorney general’s office, including falsification of electoral documents to the disappearance of 11,000 ballots in Mexico City’s 27th Electoral District and thousands more in western Michoacan state.

The PRI has controlled the presidency, congress and gubernatorial offices in all of Mexico’s 31 states since its founding in 1929.

While claiming victory, Salinas de Gortari called the campaign “one of the most contested elections in our history and one of the most peaceful.”

He seemed to be preparing the party for what could be a pivotal moment in PRI history--less than overwhelming victory at all levels.

“The era of practically one party ends and we enter now in a new political stage in the life of the country,” he said.