PRD makes inroads.

The Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) registered a stunning victory in the gubernatorial race in Guerrero on February 6. The leftist party ended the 76-year reign of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in the Pacific Coast state behind Zeferino Torreblanca, a former Acapulco mayor.

Torreblanca (pictured left) won 55 percent of the vote to defeat the PRI candidate, Hector Astudillo, who garnered 42 percent. The win, combined with the PRD's triumph the same day in the Baja California Sur gubernatorial race, boosted the prospects of the party and its leading presidential candidate, Mexico City Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, ahead of the 2006 campaign.

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The outcome also ended a solid run of victories by the PRI, which had been building momentum as it seeks to recover Los Pinos after losing the presidency to Vicente Fox in 2000.

Lopez Obrador had campaigned for Torreblanca and his operatives were said to be involved in Guerrero and in Baja California Sur. In the northern state, the PRD held on to the governorship as Narciso Agundez will succeed Leonel Cota Montano after trouncing his PRI opponent, Rodimiro Amaya.

Cota Montano is Lopez Obrador's hand-picked candidate to become the PRD's next national party president when party elections are held in mid-March.

Elsewhere on Februay 6, the PRI won in Quintana Roo, former Cozumel Mayor Felix Gonzalez of the PRI defeated former Cancun Mayor Juan Garcia Zalvidea, who was backed by the PRD.

On February 20, the PRI retained its hold on the state of Hidalgo. Its candidate, Miguel Angel Osorio claimed over 51 percent of the vote to easily defeat the PRD's Jose Guadarrama, who received less than 30 percent.

The big loser in all four races was President Vicente Fox's National Action Party (PAN). The PAN gubernatorial candidate earned less than 2 percent in the Guerrero race, in Hidalgo the party polled less than 14 percent and in Baja California Sur, the PAN finished fourth, outpalled by the Labor Party.