Institutional Revolutionary Party members and State of Mexico Governor Alfredo del Mazo. Photo: Google

By KELIN DILLON

Following the release of quick count results that determined leftist National Regeneration Movement (Morena) candidate Delfina Gómez Álvarez defeated Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate Alejandra del Moral in the State of Mexico’s (EdoMéx) gubernatorial race on Sunday, June 4, Del Moral’s PRI partisans began placing blame for the party’s loss on the lack of support from fellow PRI member and current EdoMéx governor, Alfredo del Mazo.

Preliminary data from Mexico’s National Electoral Institute (INE) revealed Gómez won between approximately 52 and 54 percent of the state’s votes, while del Moral purportedly received between 43 and 35 percent, handing the PRI its first loss in EdoMéx in nearly a century. 

PRI spokesperson and Federal Deputy Paloma Sánchez took to her social media accounts following the news of the loss to accuse Del Mazo of giving up on the PRI in exchange for alleged future benefits from the Morena government.

“This is what happens when a governor turns his back on his party and operates against it,” wrote Sánchez on Twitter. “Serious question: What embassy did Del Mazo negotiate for in exchange for this?”

 “And how did we win in Coahuila?” continued Sánchez, noting the PRI’s preliminary gubernatorial victory in the northern Mexican state. “My party gave everything, day and night! We swept through Coahuila. Everyone there did their part, while Alfredo left the Mexican PRI alone. Just like what happened in Sinaloa.”

Del Mazo notably held a low 38 percent approval rate in his state at the time of the election, while Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) – the figurehead of Morena in Mexico – held 62 percent approval among the EdoMéx population, likely contributing to Morena’s clear defeat of the PRI in Sunday’s elections.

Former Michoacán Governor Silviano Aureoles, who belongs to the PRI-affiliated Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), also accused Del Mazo of being a “traitor” to his party and his state for the sake of an ambassadorial appointment, writing on Twitter his opinion that Del Mazo would go in the “dustbin of history” for his actions, or lack thereof.

Morena’s big win in EdoMéx may foreshadow what’s in store for the state during 2024’s elections, where AMLO and Morena hope to win big and bring the federal executive’s Plan C goals of winning a qualified Morena majority in the Chamber of Deputies. 

Considering that EdoMéx is the nation’s most populous state, and correspondingly has the highest proportional representation in the Chamber of Deputies, the future of López Obrador’s Plan C aims coming to fruition has only grown more likely after Morena’s victory in EdoMéx.