Election Results: PRI wins...basically everything (written September 3)

Up for grabs yesterday was control of the state legislature in addition to 212 municipal presidencies. According to early exit polls, the PRI-led ‘Alianza Fidelidad por Veracruz’ appears to have taken not just a slice, but basically the entire political pie. It has managed to take 29 out of Veracruz’s 30 Districts, giving it almost a monopoly over the state legislative body. PRI has also won 146 of 212 municipal president races. As we all know exit polls aren’t error-proof, but it's certainly apparent that come the inauguration of the state’s 61st congressional session, PRI’s going to be sitting pretty.

Believe it or not the state’s political map looked quite differently after 2004’s elections. Before yesterday, PAN held a majority in the state congress with 14 districts to PRI’s 13 and occupied 89 municipal presidencies. The outlook is even grimmer for the traditionally leftist PRD. With potentially no seats at all in the state congress, and only a handful of municipal presidencies, its influence over the next 3 years could be extremely limited.