PRI Concedes Loss of Chihuahua Governorship : Mexico: But the ruling party claims victory against a left-of-center candidate in Michoacan race.

For only the second time in its 63-year rule, the Institutional Revolutionary Party conceded defeat in a gubernatorial election Monday, handing victory to the conservative National Action Party in the northern border state of Chihuahua.

At the same time, the PRI, as the ruling party is universally called, claimed a sweeping victory over the left-of-center Democratic Revolutionary Party in a vote for governor of the central farming state of Michoacan. But the opposition party, headed by populist leader Cuauhtemoc Cardenas, insisted that it won that election and accused the government of fraud.

Cardenas, whose home state is Michoacan, vowed to fight “legally and politically” to overturn the official results against his candidate. Despite National Action’s win in Chihuahua, Cardenas said, “the situation of a state-party has not been overcome. . . . This is one more battle in the democratic transformation of this country.”

President Carlos Salinas de Gortari has dramatically reformed Mexico’s economy in the last three years but has been slow to make political changes. Doubts about Mexican democracy have been raised by opponents of the free trade agreement that Salinas is negotiating with the United States and Canada.

Salinas is to meet with President Bush today in San Diego.

The Mexican president’s supporters hail Chihuahua as evidence of his commitment to free and fair elections, while in Michoacan, opponents call the vote another example of selective democracy.

More than 60% of Chihuahua’s 1.2 million eligible voters cast ballots Sunday for governor, 18 state congressmen and 67 mayors.

Final official results are not expected until midweek. But with 55% of the votes counted, National Action’s candidate Francisco Barrio had 214,350 votes to 180,291 for the PRI’s Jesus Macias.

Barrio won the Chihuahua election after a long personal fight against the PRI. Barrio, 41, contends that the governorship was stolen from him in a fraud-ridden election six years ago.

A subdued Barrio, whose daughter was killed in an automobile accident during the campaign, told supporters Monday that he bears no grudge against the outgoing state administration.

“I am not interested in the past,” he said. “I am interested in the future.”

With a majority of the precincts reporting, PRI officials recognized an irreversible trend for National Action. Macias told reporters stiffly that “if the current tendencies in the vote continue, the outcome will be unfavorable for us.” Macias added that there was no reason to believe the vote would turn around. He acknowledged meeting with Barrio on Monday morning to wish him well.

Independent observers said the Chihuahua election was one of the cleanest ever in the state--far better than in 1986, when voters and journalists saw ballot boxes stuffed, stolen and burned.

Still, opposition parties in Chihuahua and Michoacan accused the government of using vast public funds to support ruling party candidates. A high voter turnout apparently helped Barrio in Chihuahua.

The PAN, as National Action is called, won its first governorship in Baja California in 1989. And last year, PAN leader Carlos Medina Placencia took over the governorship of Guanajuato in a post-election deal between PAN and the government.

PAN candidate Vicente Fox fought an aggressive campaign against the PRI’s Ramon Aguirre in Guanajuato, but state officials declared Aguirre the winner. After the PAN presented proof of altered election results and launched demonstrations against Aguirre, Salinas appointed Medina Placencia as a compromise.

Protests in the state of San Luis Potosi, bordering Guanajuato, forced Salinas also to remove Gov. Fausto Zapata, a PRI member, after he had served only two weeks in office. An opposition coalition that included both the PAN and Cardenas’ Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) insisted that its candidate, Dr. Salvador Nava, had won the August vote. Salinas replaced Zapata with another PRI official after Nava led a protest march to Mexico City.

Inspired by the Guanajuato and San Luis Potosi examples, Cardenas called a rally of his supporters for tonight in Michoacan. He said his party is putting together proof that its candidate, Cristobal Arias, 37, won the vote by a narrow margin.

With 23% of the ballots counted, partial official returns showed PRI candidate Eduardo Villasenor, 46, ahead with 89,615 votes to 46,613 for Arias. Final official results are not due until the weekend.

Independent observer groups said they witnessed many irregularities on election day but could not determine if they were sufficient to sway the vote in favor of the PRI.

Cardenas’ spokesman Ricardo Pascoe called the irregularities “a well-designed strategy to give the impression of minor incidents. The problem is when you add it up poll by poll, it has a cumulative effect.”

Darling reported from Chihuahua and Miller from Michoacan.