In Mexico, Winning by Losing

Mexicans have this political gag: The only way the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) can win these days is by losing. That line always gets cynical laughs because Mexicans have grown so accustomed to PRI candidates “winning” elections by vote fraud and other dubious means that even when a PRI candidate wins legitimately, voters cynically assume there have been political shenanigans.

But that cynicism may have finally begun to fade this week with two separate political events--the defeat of the PRI’s gubernatorial candidate in the state of Jalisco and the resignation two days later of a controversial PRI governor in the state of Chiapas.

The Chiapas resignation was orchestrated by President Ernesto Zedillo in his continuing effort to end the guerrilla war there. That 14-month conflict has become an embarrassing symbol of political instability in a nation the PRI has ruled for 66 years--instability that worsened when PRI Gov. Eduardo Robledo Rincon was elected last year in voting that his opponents claimed was tainted by widespread voter intimidation.

By pressuring Robledo to step aside, Zedillo may now be able to defuse the Chiapas crisis without any further fighting between government forces and Zapatista rebels, who had demanded the governor’s ouster. But the fact that it took presidential pressure to oust Robeldo shows the challenge Zedillo faces in trying to get backward-looking elements within his party to accept occasional political setbacks, even for the greater good of the nation.

That is why one hopes the more significant event was Jalisco’s election. The voting there was open and honest, and the results accurately reflected widespread unhappiness with the PRI. Not only have Jalisco residents been hurt by the recent economic downturn caused by Zedillo’s decision to devalue the peso but they hold PRI state officials responsible for a series of local tragedies in recent years, like a devastating gas explosion in Guadalajara and violence caused by drug gangs.

So it was not surprising that Jalisco voters turned overwhelmingly to the rightist National Action Party, electing a PAN governor with 55% of the vote. What was surprising was the speed with which the PRI candidate conceded. It was an encouraging sign that, at least in one Mexican state, PRI leaders have had the candor and confidence to gracefully accept defeat.