Opposition Party Hopes for Another Mexican Governor

DURANGO, Mexico —  Democratic reforms were again put to the test in gubernatorial elections Sunday. Mexico’s main opposition party had a chance of gaining control of another state in at least one close race.

The conservative opposition National Action Party--fresh from victory in the border state of Chihuahua on July 12--held high hopes of adding another governorship in Durango, just to the south.

The early voter turnout was high for what appeared to be a hotly contested race--in contrast with previous elections, when the governing party candidates were shoo-ins and voter apathy was high.

Several trucks carrying police armed with automatic weapons patrolled the streets, but there were no reports of violence or confrontations.

National Action, however, criticized the governing party for continuing its policy of offering mass breakfasts in poor neighborhoods and then busing voters to the polls.

Mexican opposition parties have long charged the government with using public funds to assist the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which has held a near monopoly on political power for more than 60 years.

Elections for governor also were being held in four other states--Veracruz, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas and Oaxaca--while Baja California voters chose mayors and a state legislators.

Chihuahua was only the second gubernatorial victory by an opposition party in any of Mexico’s 31 states since the governing party was formed in 1929.

The Chihuahua result was a blow to the governing party, but it helped overcome Mexico’s reputation for rigged elections.

It also polished the international stature of President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, whose free-market reforms have advanced more quickly than his pledges to clean up Mexican politics.

“The results in Chihuahua have raised expectations in Durango,” said Luis Nava Castillo, coordinator of the nonpartisan Citizens Movement for Democracy.