PRI set to win in elections for mayors and governors across third of Mexico

MEXICO CITY - Mexicans have voted for new governors and mayorsacross a third of the country in an election soured by drug gangmurders and intimidation and expected to deliver sweeping gains tothe main opposition party.

After yesterday's polls and with the ruling conservatives doggedby a feeble economy and raging drug violence, the InstitutionalRevolutionary Party, or PRI, is expected to win most of the 12gubernatorial polls.

This will mean it could keep many of the nine states it controlsand push out rivals in some of the other three.

A big PRI victory could set the stage for a 2012 presidential bidby the party's rising star, Enrique Pena Nieto, governor of thestate of Mexico, next to Mexico city.

With Mexico's left divided and President Felipe Calderon sinkingin opinion polls, the PRI is pushing for a comeback after a 2000election win by the conservative National Action Party, or PAN,ended its 71-year rule.

Mr Calderon's popularity has slumped in recent months as theeconomy limps back from a recession, while an army-led campaign tocurb the power of drug cartels has sparked more violence.

More than 26,000 people have been killed during Mr Calderon's 3 1/2 years in office, mostly traffickers and police but alsocivilian bystanders. Human heads and mutilated bodies are oftendumped in public as gangs fight over turf.

Surging violence, including the murders of two candidates and astring of threats, has blighted the election campaign.

"The way things are going, if I'm alive, then I'll vote. Thesituation is very bad," Ciudad Juarez tour-service driver FelipeBurciaga said.

Drug gangs fighting over routes into the United States haveturned Ciudad Juarez, near Texas, into one of the world's mostdangerous cities, with an average of 10 drug-related killings a dayin June.

Mexico suffers from endemic corruption in local politics and anumber of candidates have been accused by rivals of being on drugcartel payrolls. - (Reuters)

PRI set to win in elections for mayors and governors across third of Mexico

MEXICO CITY - Mexicans have voted for new governors and mayorsacross a third of the country in an election soured by drug gangmurders and intimidation and expected to deliver sweeping gains tothe main opposition party.

After yesterday's polls and with the ruling conservatives doggedby a feeble economy and raging drug violence, the InstitutionalRevolutionary Party, or PRI, is expected to win most of the 12gubernatorial polls.

This will mean it could keep many of the nine states it controlsand push out rivals in some of the other three.

A big PRI victory could set the stage for a 2012 presidential bidby the party's rising star, Enrique Pena Nieto, governor of thestate of Mexico, next to Mexico city.

With Mexico's left divided and President Felipe Calderon sinkingin opinion polls, the PRI is pushing for a comeback after a 2000election win by the conservative National Action Party, or PAN,ended its 71-year rule.

Mr Calderon's popularity has slumped in recent months as theeconomy limps back from a recession, while an army-led campaign tocurb the power of drug cartels has sparked more violence.

More than 26,000 people have been killed during Mr Calderon's 3 1/2 years in office, mostly traffickers and police but alsocivilian bystanders. Human heads and mutilated bodies are oftendumped in public as gangs fight over turf.

Surging violence, including the murders of two candidates and astring of threats, has blighted the election campaign.

"The way things are going, if I'm alive, then I'll vote. Thesituation is very bad," Ciudad Juarez tour-service driver FelipeBurciaga said.

Drug gangs fighting over routes into the United States haveturned Ciudad Juarez, near Texas, into one of the world's mostdangerous cities, with an average of 10 drug-related killings a dayin June.

Mexico suffers from endemic corruption in local politics and anumber of candidates have been accused by rivals of being on drugcartel payrolls. - (Reuters)