P.R.I., Once-Dominant Mexican Party, Appears Resurgent - NYTimes.com

NYTimes.com, by Marc Lacey and Elisabeth Malkin, 05/07/2010, extracto/excerpt.-

The political party that governed Mexico for 71 years before voters shunted it aside a decade ago finished strongly in gubernatorial elections on Sunday, which analysts saw as a sign of growing concern about the country’s rising insecurity from violent drug gangs.

That resurgent party, the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as the P.R.I., appeared to have won most of the 12 governorships up for grabs, according to election results that were still being tallied in state capitals on Monday.

In some important contests, however, the P.R.I. fell short, a sign that its once-dominant grip on virtually all of Mexican politics is a thing of the past. An unconventional coalition that included the conservative National Action Party of President Felipe Calderón and its left-wing rival, the Democratic Revolution Party, wrested the governorship of Oaxaca State from the P.R.I. and propelling a popular local politician, Gabino Cué, to office, the early results showed.