PRI RIDES VOTO CRUZADO TO GOVERNORSHIP

by Jeff Barnet, FNS Editor

Benefitting from the crossover votes of Chihuahuenses who supported one party for governor and another for mayor, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) succeeded in re-capturing the governorship of Chihuahua. PRI candidate Patricio Martínez Garcia officially won 49.3% of the vote statewide compared to 41.4% for his National Action Party (PAN) rival Ramón Galindo.

Galindo conceded defeat in a press conference July 6.

Although Martínez had held commanding leads in polls conducted from April through June by MORI of Mexico (in conjunction with El Diario and The Dallas Morning News), a different poll conducted by El Norte de Ciudad Juárez/Reforma closer to the July 5 elections indicated that the governor's race was a virtual deadheat.

However, when the earliest results rolled in, Martínez was ahead by five percentage points, 49% to 44%. The trend which was most damaging for Galindo was Martinez's lead in Ciudad Juárez: 51% to 48%.

With new PAN mayoral candidate Gustavo Elizondo holding a slim lead in his race against PRIista José Eleno, it became evident that many voters had crossed over, voting PRI for governor and PAN for mayor.Galindo, the outgoing PANista mayor, was losing while Elizondo was winning.

One PRIista, parliamentary coordinator Miguel Etzel Maldonado, said the anti-Galindo trend was "a punishment vote" against his administration and that of Governor Francisco Barrio.

Out of 18 Chihuahua municipalities where the PAN won the mayorship, Galindo lost in nine, according to El Norte de Ciudad Juárez.

An analysis published by El Diario indicated that voters in 17 of Chihuahua's 67 municipalities crossed over, choosing candidates for governor, mayor, and state representative from different parties. The voto cruzado or voto diferenciado marked a new political trend for the state, said Diario reporter Alejandro Gutíerrez.

"The time of purely PRI-PRI, PAN-PAN, or PRD-PRD is over in Chihuahua," Gutíerrez wrote.

For example, said Gutíerrez, in July 1997, the PRI lost a federal diputado's race in a district in Chihuahua City by over 6,000 votes. In July 1998, Martínez won the same district by 1,500 votes.

In his July 6 victory speech, Martínez said one of his priorities as governor will be to "combat insecurity, especially in Ciudad Juárez." He also said the PRI "is a party undergoing transformation--we are not better, or worse, but we are different." The governor-elect promised that there would no "irregularities" in his administration, and the time of "inaction" would "die a natural death."

"We transformed the PRI, and the people responded," said Martínez. "Now we will do the same for Chihuahua."

Meanwhile, PAN leaders offered differing reasons for their party's failure to hold onto the governorship won by Barrio in 1992, who defeated his PRI opponent by a 54% to 46% margin.

A "visibly agitated" Galindo told a crowd of supporters July 6 that, while "the results are not favorable to the National Action Party, the defeat does not affect "the extraordinary advances and accomplishments of Francisco Barrio."

"We have lost the battle, but not the war," said Galindo.

On July 8, Galindo said he would consider running for a federal Senate seat in 2000. "There are many possibilities right now and I am not rejecting any of them for the moment," the ex-candidate said.

Technically, Galindo still has two months left in his Juárez municipal president term. However, city councilors agreed on July 26 that it was not necessary for Galindo to return. Galindo made it official on July 27 that he would not complete his term, but instead "take a vacation."

Governor Barrio appeared "tranquil" and "serene" in the face of Galindo's defeat, according to a report in El Diario. In a July 6 press conference, Barrio stated "this loss by the PAN is without a doubt unfavorable, but there can also be something positive gained from this. We have the opportunity to look at what is happening within the party."

Vicente Fox, governor of Guanajuato and an influential PAN leader, said that the defeat must lie with the candidate, Galindo. However, he said the PAN "must undertake a serious analysis of the factors" that led to the loss. The governor said that he considered the guerra sucia, or war of words, to be one of those factors. "The guerra sucia favored the PRI," he said.

At one time during the campaign, Martínez accused Barrio of helping his brother Federico attain sizeable amounts of "personal wealth." Barrio and Galindo countered that Martínez had his own "infinite" sources of wealth. Barrio and Galindo accused each other of benefitting from drugtrafficking. Although the war of words eventually settled down, Martínez had spent more time on the offensive and both Galindo and Barrio spent a considerable amount of time defending themselves. (Click here to link to a complete summary of the guerra sucia.)

However, Manuel Espino Barrientos, PAN state lerader in Sonora, blamed both Fox and Galindo for making "declarations which offended the sensibility of the people" and said they should have spoken "of things more humane, more uplifting for the people...they should have opted for the alternative."

The real loser in the election, said Espino, was Francisco Barrio.

With the return of the PRI to the governorship and a split between the PAN in Juárez and the tricolor in Chihuahua City, political experts on both sides of the border are concerned about the development of the El Paso-Juárez area, according to a story in the July 6 El Paso Times. A Juárez professor who preferred to remain anonymous told the Times that "it could mean the difference between running a smooth business operation across international lines or paying additional taxes and fees to support a political party," he said.

Aware of such concerns, governor-elect Martínez met with mayor-elect Elizondo in Juárez on July 10, where he promised to govern "in a climate of harmony, tranquility, and cooperation with the winning candidate Gustavo Elizondo."

"With the mayor, and all the councilors, organizations, and state deputies we are going to inaugurate a time of intense work in the public and municipal sector," Martínez promised.

Governor of Chihuahua--Final Results
(Verified by the General Assembly of the State Electoral Institute, July 9)

Patricio Garcia Martínez, PRI...................................497,231............49.3%
Ramon Galindo Noriega, PAN.................................417,071............41.4%
Esther Orozco, PRD and Others (PT, PVEM)............94,280..............9.3%

Total Votes...........................................................1,008,582

Comparison--PRI vs. PAN, 1992 and 1998

1998 Governor's Race: PRI vs. PAN alone--914,302 votes--PRI 54.4%, PAN 45.6%

1992 Governor's Race: PRI vs. PAN alone--722,251 votes--PRI 46%, PAN 54%

Sources: El Diario, El Norte de Ciudad Juárez, El Paso Times