Tabasco Election Tests Influence of Two Potential Candidates for 2006 Presidential Race

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The center-left Partido de la Revolucion Democratica (PRD) won a majority of seats in the state legislature in the southern state of Tabasco in elections on Oct. 19, seizing control from the former governing Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). The PRD also came out ahead of the PRI in several mayoral races in the state.

The elections were considered by some a test of the influence of two potential candidates in the 2006 presidential race, Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the PRD and PRI president Roberto Madrazo Pintado.

Madrazo and Lopez Obrador, both natives of Tabasco, campaigned heavily in the state on behalf of the candidates of their respective parties. Madrazo was able to garner support for PRI candidates primarily in the capital …