Brass bands blared through the rain as the party that ruled Mexico for 71 years celebrated a claimed victory in a governor's race that could affect Mexico's 2006 presidential campaign.
The noisy march watched by delighted tourists in Oaxaca's colonial plaza was a remarkable show of confidence -- or desperation -- for the party: It still trailed early yesterday in the official count.
"We have won the government of the state of Oaxaca," candidate Ulises Ruiz shouted to cheering members of his Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, from the shelter of a cargo truck parked in front of the cathedral late on Sunday. He said his party's polls showed a 6 percentage point victory.
Yet at the moment he spoke, Ruiz was still several points behind opposition candidate Gabino Cue in the official count and independent surveys showed a razor-thin race.
Cue, too, claimed he had won. "We will not let them rob us of the victory," he told supporters, who also chanted and honked horns in celebration.
With 50 percent of the vote officially counted early yesterday, Cue still held a razor-thin lead, 46.7 percent to 46 percent.
The Television Azteca network said its own quick count of representative precincts showed a virtual tie: 49 to 48 in favor of Ruiz, with a 2 percentage point margin of error.
On hand but saying little was national PRI leader Roberto Madrazo, whose presidential hopes would be dented if Ruiz, a key ally, loses in Oaxaca, a state that has been important to Madrazo's political rise.
Beyond politics, the celebration fascinated tourists sipping coffees beside the colonial city center.
"The Mexicans are so passionate about the election," said 26-year-old Veronika Grigkar of Vienna, Austria. "In Europe, I've never experienced such a big parade in the street" after an election.
"Our prime minister is so boring," said Monika Van der Wagt, a 24-year-old teacher from Arnheim, Holland. "He won't celebrate like this."
Along the US border, exit polls for the Tijuana mayor's race showed a virtual tie between flamboyant gambling baron Jorge Hank Rhon of the PRI and Jorge Ramos of President Vicente Fox's National Action Party.
Even if Hank loses, his strong showing was a shock to Fox's party, which has governed Tijuana and the rest of Baja California state for 15 years.
It was the first state since 1929 to elect a non-PRI governor, preparing the way for Fox's historic presidential victory in 2000.
In Oaxaca, Ruiz oversaw Madrazo's 2002 campaign for the PRI party leadership, delivering a landslide that pushed the former Tabasco state governor to victory.
Oaxaca also is important because the party has lost several other states in southern Mexico, which has long been considered the center of strength both for the PRI and for Madrazo personally.
PRI domination here has been so strong that the leftist Democratic Revolution Party put aside its fierce opposition to the conservative National Action elsewhere in Mexico in order to form a coalition behind Cue.
They were joined, obviously but not quite openly, by several anti-Madrazo figures in the PRI who hoped to undermine the party chief. If they lose, that gamble could damage their standing in the party.
In Tijuana, Hank Rhon is the son of the late PRI power broker Carlos Hank Gonzalez, who became a rich businessman during decades as a public servant.
Hank Rhon, one of his sons, is worth a reported US$500 million. He owns a racetrack, a chain of bookmaking parlors and a zoo with hundreds of animals.
In 1988, two of his employees were convicted of killing a Tijuana journalist who had reported on corruption for the weekly Zeta.
National Action's Luis Armando Reynoso Femat easily defeated the PRI's Oscar Lopez Velarde in the day's only other governor's race, holding the state of Aguascalientes for Fox's party.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS