Mexico Ruling Party Claims Win In Key State, Rivals Cry Foul

TOLUCA, Mexico, June 5 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 05th Jun, 2017 ) - Mexico's ruling party narrowly held onto the governorship of the country's largest state Sunday, according to preliminary election results, but a fiery leftist hoping to ride the race to the presidency cried foul.

The election in the state of Mexico, President Enrique Pena Nieto's home state, was closely watched as a bellwether ahead of presidential polls next year. It was a must-win race for Pena Nieto and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which had to fend off a fierce challenge from an upstart leftist party, the National Regeneration Movement (Morena), and its founder, presidential hopeful Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

The PRI's candidate, Alfredo del Mazo, leads Lopez Obrador's protegee, Delfina Gomez, by about two percentage points, according to a rapid count released by the electoral authority.

It said Del Mazo won between 32.75 and 33.59 percent of the vote, against a score of 30.73 to 31.53 percent for Gomez.

It called the difference between them "statistically significant," with a confidence level of 95 percent, based on a sample of polling stations. Lopez Obrador immediately rejected the result. "According to our results, Delfina won," he said in a video posted online.

"We will accept no fraud." He vowed to challenge the outcome, though he said his party would do so peacefully. Gomez echoed his rejection. "We won the election," she said. But Del Mazo was quick to deliver his victory speech, promising "a government of inclusion, of unity." The fight may be far from over, with street protests and court challenges possible.