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    July 03, 2011

Mexico Voters Choose Governors in Three States Sunday

   Olcay Rached
   A cyclist rides past a mural for Eruviel Avila, candidate for governor
   of the state of Mexico for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)
   in Toluca, July 2, 2011
   Photo: AP
   A cyclist rides past a mural for Eruviel Avila, candidate for governor
   of the state of Mexico for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI)
   in Toluca, July 2, 2011

   Mexican voters head to the polls on Sunday to elect governors in the
   states of Mexico, Coahuila and Nayarit.
   Early opinion polls indicate candidates of the Institutional
   Revolutionary Party (PRI) are leading candidates from President Felipe
   Calderon's conservative National Action Party (PAN).
   The PAN has attempted to partner with the leftist Democratic Revolution
   Party (PRD) to defeat the PRI in Nayarit and Coahuila, but its
   candidates are still favored in those races Sunday.
   The PRI's current governor in Mexico state, Enrique Pena Nieto, is
   considered a front-runner in next year's presidential race. Mexico is
   the country's most populous state.
   Pena Nieto could face President Calderon, who analysts suggest may be
   vulnerable for a defeat in 2012 because his country's escalating drug
   violence has diminished his popularity and the influence of his party.
   Tens of thousand of people have died in drug violence since Calderon
   took office in 2006 and began a campaign against the drug cartels.

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