Mexican Voters Deal Blow to Fox

 
July 7, 2003
By Dane Schiller, San Antonio Express-News

MEXICO CITY — President Vicente Fox may face continued trouble in his final three years in office, after voters handed congressional and gubernatorial victories to his archrivals.

MEXICO CITY — A man tossed two gasoline bombs Sunday at the U.S. Embassy here but caused little damage and no injuries, police said.

The man threw two gasoline-filled bottles over security barricades, according to police. One burned out on the concrete stairs leading up to the building without causing major damage, while the other apparently failed to ignite.

It was unclear why the man threw the bombs.

Police arrested a suspect, and embassy officials were checking the building.
Associated Press

Ballots still were coming in by car, donkey and boat late Sunday, so official results weren't expected until today in the massive election to choose 500 new members of Congress and six governors.

Exit polls signaled bad news for Fox in the first national election since he won the presidency in 2000 and ended 71 years of rule by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as the PRI.

Fox's conservative National Action Party, known as the PAN, lost the gubernatorial race to the PRI in the Texas-Mexico border state of Nuevo León and failed to capture a majority in Congress, according to the exit polls.

That means Fox will again face congressional gridlock that has stopped him from pushing through his "government of change" legislative proposals.

"It is a political earthquake for President Fox because his party is not going to get the votes it expected," Sergio Aguayo, a political scientist turned candidate for the leftist Mexico Posible party, said hours after polls closed.

The PRI claimed 39 percent of congressional seats, to the PAN's 31 percent, according to exit polls by the Reforma newspaper.

The Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, claimed 18 percent of the seats, increasing the profile of a leftist party that includes the Mexico City mayor.

Although Fox's name wasn't on the ballot, he was seen as having the most to lose because of his difficulties in Congress. The election was also seen as a referendum on his leadership, and a first volley in the 2006 presidential election.

But Fox's woes are no surprise. Pre-election polls predicted power would remain split and that Nuevo León would fall to the PRI.

Millions voted, including Fox and disgraced former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who had fled the country in the wake of the 1994 economic collapse and allegations of corruption.

"With Fox, there was the idea things would improve, but nothing great has happened," said Marcela Hernández, 56, an apartment landlady.

"I want to believe, but I have my doubts," she said.

But Carmen Martínez, her 88-year-old mother, who voted from a wheelchair, was optimistic.

"Now we have democracy," she said.

Mexico's attorney general reported complaints of voting irregularities, including politicos campaigning near polling sites, gangs blocking people from reaching sites and polling sites burned in the southern state of Chiapas.

Early Sunday, campesinos triggered a brawl as they closed polling sites in the state of Mexico.

As men punched and kicked, action was captured live by a network news helicopter.

No serious injuries were reported.

Members of the group later hoisted machetes for the media.

But violence was the exception, as most ballots were cast without a problem.

Laura de Pilar Torres, a doctor who supervised a polling site here, said turnout was low.

"We haven't seen the number of people we expected," she said, estimating turnout at 25 percent — low by Mexican standards.

In the United States voting often takes place in schools and community centers, but some ballots here were cast in private homes converted into polling sites.

Cinthia Vásquez, 19, whose carport was turned into a voting station, said she didn't mind the throngs of strangers as long as her door was locked.

Raúl Carrizales, 67, a mechanical engineer, defended Fox in an angry whisper.

"Congress just won't let him do a thing," he said.

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