Mexico's main leftist party took a beating in a governorship race widely viewed as a referendum on fiery former presidential hopeful Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who campaigned for his party's candidate, according to a preliminary count.
Sunday's election for governor in the southern, swampy state of Tabasco was marred by shooting, street fights, arrests of supporters of both candidates and claims of vote-buying and voter intimidation.
Tabasco native and former presidential candidate Lopez Obrador campaigned hard for gubernatorial hopeful Cesar Raul Ojeda of his leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party, or PRD. Many saw the vote as a key test for Lopez Obrador's political survival following his narrow loss in presidential elections and the street protests he led accusing the ruling party of vote fraud.
Prior to Sunday's vote, Lopez Obrador acknowledged the importance of the Tabasco race, saying if the PRI wins "our adversaries will laugh at us" for losing "in our own land."
With 90 percent of the vote counted, Andres Rafael Granier of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, had 53.1 percent compared to 42.8 percent for Ojeda making it statically impossible for Ojeda to win.
However, in line with Mexican electoral procedure, there will be a second count of the poll vote tallies tomorrow which could technically change the result.
Ojeda has also threatened to go to the courts to challenge the vote because of alleged electoral shenanigans.
"I've never seen things like this before," Ojeda said as he cast his vote in the steamy oil city of Villahermosa, the state capital. "There is mass vote-buying, political prisoners and aggression, trying to damage citizen confidence."
Several exit polls released shortly after voting finished predicted Granier's victory.
Granier supporters carried the candidate on their shoulders through the Villahermosa streets.
"I will unify Tabasco," Granier told reporters.
About 1,000 PRI supporters threw balloons in the air, danced to salsa music and waved banners proclaiming "Granier squashed Ojeda and Lopez Obrador."
Granier used his campaign to brand Ojeda as an extremist linked to the paralyzing street blockades his Democratic Revolution Party launched in Mexico City to protest alleged fraud in the July 2 presidential election, in which Lopez Obrador lost to Felipe Calderon.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese