The National Action Party wins state elections in Mexico

On Sunday 5th of June 2016, intermediate elections were held in 14 out of the 31 States of the Republic of Mexico, where 12 governorates, 547 mayor's offices and 422 provincial governments were at stake. In the new entity of Ciudad de México, the first election to the Constituent Assembly was held, after a political reform had granted it the status of Federated State at the beginning of 2016.  

The election results show a significant and unexpected decline in the votes obtained by the party that for decades had dominated the country, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). It ruled over 9 out of the 12 governorates at stake, but on this occasion the citizens of Veracruz, Tamaulipas, Quintana Roo, Durango, Aguascalientes, Puebla and Chihuahua have handed the victory over the right-wing National Action Party (PAN). A few of these States had never been ruled by another party. PAN emerged victorious at the elections, after winning seven governorates (in three of them in alliance with the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD). 

PRI, on the other hand, has established itself as the leading force in the States of Zacatecas, Tlaxcala and Hidalgo (which it already ruled) and in two new States, Sinaloa and Oaxaca. In Ciudad de México, where 60 out of the 100 deputies of the Constituent Assembly were elected, the left-wing party Mouvement of National Regeneration (Morena) has won with 36% of the votes,  closely followed by the PRD with 31.7% of the votes. It is worth highlighting the rise of this new party led by Andrés Manuel López Obrador to the detriment of the PRD, despite not having obtained any governorates.