Mexico Democracy Wins a Round

For the first time, the P.R.I. concedes defeat in a gubernatorial race

Democracy came to Mexico last week -- sort of. In the booming border state of Baja California Norte, Ernesto Ruffo Appel, the candidate of the conservative National Action Party (PAN), was declared the victor over Margarita Ortega Villa, the candidate of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (P.R.I.) in the race for governor. Once officially confirmed this week, Ruffo's victory will mark the first time in the 60-year history of the P.R.I. that the party has conceded defeat in such an election. "It is a decisive event," says political analyst Jorge Castaneda, "the first that will have an authentic historic significance in...

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