After several defeats, Mexico's ruling party looks to state victory

VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico - Mexico's ruling party fought Sunday to make a comeback in state elections after months of turmoil and a string of stunning defeats, including its first-ever loss in a presidential race.

Most polls show the party's candidate, Miguel Andrade, leading 10 other opposition members - including eight former members of his party - in the race for governor of this oil-rich, Gulf of Mexico state.

A victory by Andrade would help current Tabasco Gov. Roberto Madrazo in his fight to become national president of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which has ruled Mexico since its creation in 1929.

Madrazo, with the backing of several of the nation's governors, advocates returning to the party's populist roots and has opposed many recent reforms designed to make the party more democratic.

On July 2, the party's presidential candidate, Francisco Labastida, lost to Vicente Fox, a former Coca-Cola executive and member of Mexico's socially conservative National Action Party.

The defeat left the PRI, which had held power by incorporating everyone from peasant groups to wealthy businessmen, struggling to keep from tearing apart. The country's president had traditionally led the party, and the loss in July left the PRI leaderless and searching for a new identity.

The division worsened Aug. 20 when the PRI lost the governor's race in southern Chiapas state, long a party stronghold.

But the party may soon have its first major victory since the July election.

A poll in early October gave Andrade support from 40 percent of those surveyed and a comfortable 15-point lead over his nearest challenger, Raul Ojeda of the Democratic Revolution Party. The margin of error was three percentage points.

Andrade needs the largest percentage of votes, not a majority, to win the race. Overall turnout on Sunday was brisk, with many of Tabasco's 1.1 million registered voters waiting in line to cast their ballot.

However, turnout in some places may have been hurt by recent rains that caused floodwaters to rise, trapping many people on their roofs and increasing frustration with the government in poor neighborhoods with mostly PRI supporters.

Standing with his neighbor Sunday near their flooded, corrugated metal shacks, Israel Gomez, 40, said he had always voted for the PRI, but didn't plan to even go to the polls this election. He pointed to infected scabs on his son's feet, saying no one from the government had come to offer public assistance as they had during flooding in past years.

A PRI campaign sign, hung a few weeks ago, had fallen and hung upside down on his neighbor's house. ''It's dead already,'' Gomez said, referring to the party.

On Sunday, Alianza Civica and other observer groups said there were reports of the PRI buying votes, as well as parties illegally transporting voters to the polls in taxis and buses. Miguel Rueda, a PRI spokesman, denied the accusations, saying voting had been free and transparent.

Many flooding victims have complained of a lack of public assistance. In past years, PRI supporters often received money or aid in return for their vote, but recent reforms have made the once widespread practice less accepted.

Jose Luis Mendoza, another flooding victim, said this election has been hard because he voted for the opposition, Ojeda, after a lifetime of supporting the PRI. ''Nothing has been done,'' he said, standing outside a polling place. ''There has been no change, nothing.''

But not everyone was discouraged. Jorge Luis Santiago, along with his wife and two young daughters, took a boat from their flooded home so that he and his wife could vote for the PRI. After the last governor's race in Tabasco, many of Madrazo's opponents accused him of taking illegal campaign contributions and buying votes. The scandal prompted large protests.

Madrazo has guaranteed that Sunday's election will be free and fair, and more than 1,100 election observers are expected to be watching 2,110 voting places on Sunday.

Voters also were electing 31 local legislators, as well as 17 mayors.