Mexico’s elections reaffirm PRI’s sway but shake status quo
Virtually all of Mexico’s political parties were able to dress up the 7 June federal legislative, state and municipal midterm elections as a victory, although the left-wing Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) required most spin to do so. Happiest will be the radical left-wing Movimiento Regeneración Nacional (Morena), which shattered the PRD’s hegemony in the Distrito Federal (DF); and President Enrique Peña Nieto as the ruling Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) and its allies retained control of the federal lower chamber of deputies. The PRI, however, suffered some humbling defeats at state level, foremost among which was the governorship of Nuevo León which fell to Jaime ‘El Bronco’ Rodríguez, the first victory ever by an independent candidate and one of several black eyes sustained by the political establishment.
In the elections to renew the 500-seat federal lower chamber of congress, the PRI in alliance with the Partido Verde Ecologista de México (PVEM) and the Partido Nueva Alianza (Panal) looks set to surpass the 251 seats required for a simple majority, according to preliminary results. This was the most important result of election day for the federal government led by President Peña Nieto, especially given the fear that its mishandling of serious human rights issues in Mexico, and damaging conflict of interest allegations, could exact a toll on the PRI. The opposition will not now be able to stymie any legislative initiatives associated with Peña Nieto’s reform agenda – the major reforms have already been approved – in the second half of his sexenio.