The landslide victory by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in Mexico’s presidential election brought an abrupt end to the monopoly on power enjoyed by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, a nearly century-long dominance that cultivated corruption along with an extensive patronage system.
On Sunday night there were some tears, but no obvious shock or anger among the campaign workers streaming out of PRI headquarters after their candidate conceded the race within minutes of polling stations closing. Their party had finished a distant third.
Lopez Obrador, a populist and self-described leftist, had maintained a double-digit lead in the polls throughout the campaign, while PRI candidate Jose Antonio Meade’s message had never gained traction.
So, what happened?
On the wide sidewalk in front of PRI headquarters, Ernesto Garcia Elizalde leaned on his cane considering that question and where the path forward might lie for the party he joined and has ardently supported since 1964.
Meade, a mild-mannered technocrat with Cabinet positions in multiple PRI administrations, had struggled in vain to address the issue of corruption, which Lopez Obrador made the central issue of a campaign that resonated strongly with Mexicans.
“There’s no need to invent a hidden reason,” said Garcia. “We know why we lost. We didn’t lose because we had a bad fighter. We lost because of all the baggage we have.”
As Meade campaign workers quietly slipped away after Sunday’s loss, taunted by the celebratory honking of passing cars, Garcia lamented the PRI’s half-dozen former governors who were either…
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