Institutional Ruling Party Mexico

Gubernatorial candidate Hector Teran Teran appeared to take an early lead in the hard-fought Baja California state elections Sunday night, according to preliminary unofficial voting estimates. The national leadership of Teran's opposition National Action Party (PAN) told reporters that Teran had taken the lead in the party's bid to win its second straight election in the key border state, based on early returns and exit polls. The official results had not yet been announced.

Mexico's longtime ruling party ousted its leader and named a new party president on Thursday in a desperate effort to regroup after its worst electoral losses ever. Mariano Palacios, 45, a former governor, was the only candidate for the job and was elected unanimously. He will be the sixth party president in three years--a reflection of the disarray in the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which has ruled Mexico single-handedly for most of the past seven decades.

It was Hector Teran's turn to make history Monday. With his victory in the closely watched Baja California gubernatorial elections, the courtly, 64-year-old senator culminated a long career that parallels the rise of his opposition party from token outsider status to regional dominance and national prominence. Teran held a commanding 51% of the vote Monday, leading his rival from Mexico's ruling party by nine percentage points with two-thirds of the ballots counted.

It was Hector Teran's turn to make history Monday. With his victory in the closely watched Baja California gubernatorial elections, the courtly, 64-year-old senator culminated a long career that parallels the rise of his opposition party from token outsider status to regional dominance and national prominence. Teran held a commanding 51% of the vote Monday, leading his rival from Mexico's ruling party by nine percentage points with two-thirds of the ballots counted.

The official motto of Tijuana expresses the pioneering spirit of a border state that is primed for a political showdown in today's gubernatorial election: "This is where the nation begins." Six years ago, this is where a peaceful revolution began. In the 1989 elections, Ernesto Ruffo Appel, a diminutive and cheerful reformer, became the first opposition party governor in the history of Baja California and Mexico.

Mexico's longtime ruling party ousted its leader and named a new party president on Thursday in a desperate effort to regroup after its worst electoral losses ever. Mariano Palacios, 45, a former governor, was the only candidate for the job and was elected unanimously. He will be the sixth party president in three years--a reflection of the disarray in the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which has ruled Mexico single-handedly for most of the past seven decades.

Gubernatorial candidate Hector Teran Teran appeared to take an early lead in the hard-fought Baja California state elections Sunday night, according to preliminary unofficial voting estimates. The national leadership of Teran's opposition National Action Party (PAN) told reporters that Teran had taken the lead in the party's bid to win its second straight election in the key border state, based on early returns and exit polls. The official results had not yet been announced.

The official motto of Tijuana expresses the pioneering spirit of a border state that is primed for a political showdown in today's gubernatorial election: "This is where the nation begins." Six years ago, this is where a peaceful revolution began. In the 1989 elections, Ernesto Ruffo Appel, a diminutive and cheerful reformer, became the first opposition party governor in the history of Baja California and Mexico.