Mexico President’s Ruling Party Rolls to Win in Country’s Most Populous State María Verza and Lissette Romero - Associated Press
go to original June 5, 2023

Delfina Gomez, Mexico state gubernatorial candidate for the National Regeneration Movement, or MORENA, celebrates her electoral victory during local state elections in Toluca, Mexico state, Mexico, Sunday, June 4, 2023. (Eduardo Verdugo/AP)

Mexico’s most populous state turned its back on decades of single-party rule, deciding to move forward with President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s ruling Morena party over the long-dominant Institutional Revolutionary Party.

The preliminary forecast from electoral authorities Sunday night indicated a victory for Delfina Gómez in the State of Mexico that was confirmed a short time later by Alejandra del Moral’s concession speech. Official ballot counting continued through the night.

The result was a new low for the PRI, which governed Mexico uninterrupted for 71 years until losing power in 2000 and had ruled the State of Mexico for even longer until its loss Sunday.

A representative sampling of voting stations just hours after polls closed indicated Gómez was likely to win between 52.1% and 54.2% of the ballots, compared with 43% to 45.2% for del Moral, according to the National Electoral Institute. It said the sampling forecast had at least 95% certainty. By midnight with more than half of ballots counted, the margin was holding.

“There is going to be a different governance,” Gómez said late Sunday night before cheering supporters in the state capital of Toluca. The state’s first female governor-to-be stressed her commitment to the mothers of missing people and victims of femicide, and called for the public to denounce corruption.

The PRI-led coalition did hold onto the governorship in the sparsely populated northern border state of Coahuila, where with 80% of ballots counted, the PRI coalition candidate Manolo Jiménez led by 35 points over the Morena challenger.

But losing the State of Mexico was a heavy blow to its political fortunes.

Read the rest at Associated Press

Related: Is It Claudia? The Prospect of Mexico Electing a Female President (Mexico News Daily)

Related: State of Mexico’s Elections Suggest New Direction for Political Future (NPR)

Related: Morena Party Ends Almost 100 Years of PRI Party Rule in Mexico State, Which Also Sees Its First Female Governor (Noticias Telemundo)

Related: Mexico's PRI Party Concedes Defeat in Key State Election (APP - UrduPoint)

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!