PAN Reportedly Wins 1 of 3 Governorships in Mexico

In what would be a crucial victory ahead of the 2000 presidential elections, the opposition National Action Party, or PAN, captured the governor’s seat in the central state of Aguascalientes, according to television exit polls.

The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, however, said its own polls showed it was hanging on to Aguascalientes by 4 percentage points.

The polls by Televisa and Television Azteca also showed the governing PRI, as expected, holding on to governorships in the gulf coast state of Veracruz and the southeastern state of Oaxaca.

Official preliminary results were to be released later.

“What we want for Aguascalientes is a transition that does not hold back its progress, that does not cause a scandal,” Felipe Gonzalez Gonzalez of the PAN told a news conference after the nation’s media declared him the winner.

According to Televisa’s poll, Gonzalez captured 50% of the vote. The PRI’s candidate, Hector Hugo Olivares Ventura, had 41%, and Alfonso Bernal Sahagun of the center-left Democratic Revolution Party had 6%.

In Veracruz, Miguel Aleman, a wealthy businessman and the son of a former president, said his victory was assured after the Televisa poll showed him winning with 52% of the vote.

In Oaxaca, a tighter-than-expected competition was shaping up.

The first official results, issued by Oaxaca’s State Electoral Council, showed PRI candidate Jose Nelson Murat Casab was ahead, but with Democratic Revolution candidate Hector Sanchez trailing by just 6 percentage points.