Mexico’s former ruling party wins state race over Calderon’s sister

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REPORTING FROM MEXICO CITY -- The party that ruled Mexico for 70 years and hopes to make a comeback in next year’s presidential election has won an important state race and handed defeat to the sister of President Felipe Calderon, according to results released Monday (link in Spanish).

Fausto Vallejo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) took top place in voting Sunday for governor of the western state of Michoacan, election authorities announced. He had 35.39% of the vote to the 32.67% won by Luisa Maria Calderon of her brother’s conservative National Action Party. The candidate of the leftist party that now holds the governorship, Silvano Aureoles, came in third.

The election was marred by violence and intimidation in a state where drug traffickers hold considerable sway.

Luisa Maria Calderon had led surveys going into Sunday’s election, and her supporters were hoping a victory would give their party a much-needed boost. She has not accepted defeat and said her party would inspect results at numerous polling stations where irregularities were reported.

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-- Tracy Wilkinson