MEXICO CITY — Facing a bloody drug war and lackluster economic growth, millions of Mexicans voted on Sunday for a president in an election that surveys suggested may bring back a party that had ruled autocratically for much of the 20th century.
No single issue dominated the campaign, not the more than 50,000 killed in recent years in the efforts to control drug trafficking nor an economy that is growing but leaving behind the poor and failing to raise wages.
Instead, pollsters said, voters felt a general malaise and fatigue after 12 years of rule by the conservative National Action Party, which had thrown out the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as the PRI, in 2000 in the first real democratic election here.
The possible return of the PRI shows the disenchantment many Mexicans feel toward the post-PRI leadership and the stewardship of President Felipe Calderón, who is barred by law from a second, six-year term and leaves office in December.
The explosion of drug-related violence is high on the list of concerns, of course, both for Mexicans and for American policy makers, who have said they expect to continue to work closely with the next president to strengthen justice institutions and fight drug gangs. But voters were equally or more focused on the economy. Some voters said on Sunday that they favored the PRI out of tradition or a sense of nostalgia for what they remembered as a more stable time.
“Better the old one you know than the new to get to know,” Jorge Osorio, 70, said, recalling the words of his grandfather as he voted near Mexico City for the PRI candidate, Enrique Peña Nieto.
Such is the taint of the PRI, which had stayed in power through rigged elections, corruption and patronage, that people were reluctant to admit they supported Mr. Peña Nieto. Leonor Acosta Chavira, 77, who waited to vote with about 300 people in Tijuana, said she was worried that others would get angry if they knew of her choice.
“I vote for the party no matter the candidate,” she said.
But others — and many declined to divulge their choice because of government admonishments for “voto secreto” — said they could not give the PRI another chance.
“The PRI had its opportunity for 70 years, and the country didn’t progress,” said Moises Basilio, 29, of Guerrero State, a supporter of the left-leaning candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who narrowly lost in 2006. “We’re a country with great potential. The problem is the government has never made the people a priority.”
Liliana Patiño, 33, a voter in Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, just outside Mexico City, backed Josefina Vazquez Mota, the incumbent party’s candidate, because “I wanted to give them more time to complete what they started.”
Nearly 80 million Mexicans were eligible to vote, with turnout traditionally running about 60 percent.
There were sporadic reports of long lines at polling stations and some that opened late because they were not ready, while watchdog groups were collecting reports of vote-buying and other irregularities.
Although federal election authorities said the voting was going smoothly despite some bumps, social media networks flared with reports of abuses – some of them videotaped — such as missing or previously marked ballots and confusion inside polling stations.
A government hotline set up to receive reports of fraud had received more than 1,300 calls by midafternoon, but it was unclear if the problem was any worse than previous elections, or just more documented by smartphones, phone texts and Web sites.
There were also reports of security problems at some sites, but government officials did not give specifics and said that overall fears of drug-related violence had not come about.
Mr. Osorio found that his name had already been crossed off a list of voters when he arrived at his polling station. Polling workers decided it was an error and let him vote.
All the parties have been accused of providing money and other goods in exchange for support, but the PRI has a reputation for being particularly adept at it.
Eber Alvarez, 23, a dental student in Nezahualcoyotl, said 15 of his relatives and friends had been paid up to 500 pesos by the PRI, while the Party of the Democratic Revolution and National Action Party never seem to offer more than 400, and typically less.
He said he did not receive anything for his vote, but turned his ballot into a minor protest: “I annulled it,” he said, by drawing a giant X through the entire ballot. “The system is a joke.”
During the PRI’s rule, its leaders were credited with modernizing the economy and creating lasting social programs — the poet Octavio Paz called them “philanthropic ogres” — but they stifled political dissent and rigged elections, and economic crises and corruption scandals eventually led to the party’s downfall.
With Mr. Peña Nieto, 45, a youthful, well-spoken candidate tailor-made for — and, some say, by — television, the PRI was heavily favored to win; most polls had given him a comfortable margin for the last two years. Political analysts said the party was also expected to make gains in congressional elections.
Ms. Vazquez Mota, 51, the National Action Party’s candidate, sought to be Mexico’s first female president, but her struggle to find a message and her awkward moments — in the closing days she suggested that women withhold sexual relations with their partners if their partners did not vote — sank her into third place in most polls.
Mr. López Obrador, 58, of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, hoped to capture the anti-PRI vote with blistering attacks on the party and Mr. Peña Nieto. A former Mexico City mayor, he draws heavy support in the capital and sought to counter the PRI’s control of 20 of 31 states by campaigning in every one of them.
“The PRI control in the provinces is terrible,” said Sergio Salas, 41, a López Obrador supporter in a Mexico City middle-class district. “That’s where the secret is.”
Mr. Peña Nieto, who cast himself in the mold of pragmatic, economic reformers of the past, campaigned largely on promises of change and increased jobs and wages, while vowing to refocus the drug war on reducing murder, kidnapping, extortion and other violent crimes.
He scarcely mentioned hunting for leaders of drug networks and reducing drug trafficking, raising worries in Washington about his commitment to the drug fight, but said he would keep the military on the streets and sent reassurances to Washington that he would continue to work closely with American law enforcement.
Amado Dominguez Hernandez, 43, who lives in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, which has been one of the most violent although murders are finally declining, said he chose Mr. Peña Nieto because he believed he would improve security.
“Honestly, I think he is going to change the country and he’s going to change it for the better,” he said.
Mr. Peña Nieto said remained ahead of his opponents in polling even as they unleashed a series of attacks on his party, suggesting it would make deals with the drug networks to bring peace and rule by corruption and patronage, as it had in the past.
University students held demonstrations against him and the major television networks, accusing them of biased coverage and taking aim in particular at Televisa, the largest, on which he frequently appeared in advertisements, infomercials and news coverage. Mr. Peña Nieto is married to one of the network’s most popular soap opera stars, and she campaigned prominently for him.
Reporting was contributed by Damien Cave from Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico; Karla Zabludovsky from Ecatepec de Morelos, Mexico; Elisabeth Malkin from Mexico City; Mariana Martinez Estens from Tijuana, Mexico; and Thalia I.Longoria from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.
No single issue dominated the campaign, not the more than 50,000 killed in recent years in the efforts to control drug trafficking nor an economy that is growing but leaving behind the poor and failing to raise wages.
Instead, pollsters said, voters felt a general malaise and fatigue after 12 years of rule by the conservative National Action Party, which had thrown out the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, known as the PRI, in 2000 in the first real democratic election here.
The possible return of the PRI shows the disenchantment many Mexicans feel toward the post-PRI leadership and the stewardship of President Felipe Calderón, who is barred by law from a second, six-year term and leaves office in December.
The explosion of drug-related violence is high on the list of concerns, of course, both for Mexicans and for American policy makers, who have said they expect to continue to work closely with the next president to strengthen justice institutions and fight drug gangs. But voters were equally or more focused on the economy. Some voters said on Sunday that they favored the PRI out of tradition or a sense of nostalgia for what they remembered as a more stable time.
“Better the old one you know than the new to get to know,” Jorge Osorio, 70, said, recalling the words of his grandfather as he voted near Mexico City for the PRI candidate, Enrique Peña Nieto.
Such is the taint of the PRI, which had stayed in power through rigged elections, corruption and patronage, that people were reluctant to admit they supported Mr. Peña Nieto. Leonor Acosta Chavira, 77, who waited to vote with about 300 people in Tijuana, said she was worried that others would get angry if they knew of her choice.
“I vote for the party no matter the candidate,” she said.
But others — and many declined to divulge their choice because of government admonishments for “voto secreto” — said they could not give the PRI another chance.
“The PRI had its opportunity for 70 years, and the country didn’t progress,” said Moises Basilio, 29, of Guerrero State, a supporter of the left-leaning candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who narrowly lost in 2006. “We’re a country with great potential. The problem is the government has never made the people a priority.”
Liliana Patiño, 33, a voter in Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, just outside Mexico City, backed Josefina Vazquez Mota, the incumbent party’s candidate, because “I wanted to give them more time to complete what they started.”
Nearly 80 million Mexicans were eligible to vote, with turnout traditionally running about 60 percent.
There were sporadic reports of long lines at polling stations and some that opened late because they were not ready, while watchdog groups were collecting reports of vote-buying and other irregularities.
Although federal election authorities said the voting was going smoothly despite some bumps, social media networks flared with reports of abuses – some of them videotaped — such as missing or previously marked ballots and confusion inside polling stations.
A government hotline set up to receive reports of fraud had received more than 1,300 calls by midafternoon, but it was unclear if the problem was any worse than previous elections, or just more documented by smartphones, phone texts and Web sites.
There were also reports of security problems at some sites, but government officials did not give specifics and said that overall fears of drug-related violence had not come about.
Mr. Osorio found that his name had already been crossed off a list of voters when he arrived at his polling station. Polling workers decided it was an error and let him vote.
All the parties have been accused of providing money and other goods in exchange for support, but the PRI has a reputation for being particularly adept at it.
Eber Alvarez, 23, a dental student in Nezahualcoyotl, said 15 of his relatives and friends had been paid up to 500 pesos by the PRI, while the Party of the Democratic Revolution and National Action Party never seem to offer more than 400, and typically less.
He said he did not receive anything for his vote, but turned his ballot into a minor protest: “I annulled it,” he said, by drawing a giant X through the entire ballot. “The system is a joke.”
During the PRI’s rule, its leaders were credited with modernizing the economy and creating lasting social programs — the poet Octavio Paz called them “philanthropic ogres” — but they stifled political dissent and rigged elections, and economic crises and corruption scandals eventually led to the party’s downfall.
With Mr. Peña Nieto, 45, a youthful, well-spoken candidate tailor-made for — and, some say, by — television, the PRI was heavily favored to win; most polls had given him a comfortable margin for the last two years. Political analysts said the party was also expected to make gains in congressional elections.
Ms. Vazquez Mota, 51, the National Action Party’s candidate, sought to be Mexico’s first female president, but her struggle to find a message and her awkward moments — in the closing days she suggested that women withhold sexual relations with their partners if their partners did not vote — sank her into third place in most polls.
Mr. López Obrador, 58, of the Party of the Democratic Revolution, hoped to capture the anti-PRI vote with blistering attacks on the party and Mr. Peña Nieto. A former Mexico City mayor, he draws heavy support in the capital and sought to counter the PRI’s control of 20 of 31 states by campaigning in every one of them.
“The PRI control in the provinces is terrible,” said Sergio Salas, 41, a López Obrador supporter in a Mexico City middle-class district. “That’s where the secret is.”
Mr. Peña Nieto, who cast himself in the mold of pragmatic, economic reformers of the past, campaigned largely on promises of change and increased jobs and wages, while vowing to refocus the drug war on reducing murder, kidnapping, extortion and other violent crimes.
He scarcely mentioned hunting for leaders of drug networks and reducing drug trafficking, raising worries in Washington about his commitment to the drug fight, but said he would keep the military on the streets and sent reassurances to Washington that he would continue to work closely with American law enforcement.
Amado Dominguez Hernandez, 43, who lives in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, which has been one of the most violent although murders are finally declining, said he chose Mr. Peña Nieto because he believed he would improve security.
“Honestly, I think he is going to change the country and he’s going to change it for the better,” he said.
Mr. Peña Nieto said remained ahead of his opponents in polling even as they unleashed a series of attacks on his party, suggesting it would make deals with the drug networks to bring peace and rule by corruption and patronage, as it had in the past.
University students held demonstrations against him and the major television networks, accusing them of biased coverage and taking aim in particular at Televisa, the largest, on which he frequently appeared in advertisements, infomercials and news coverage. Mr. Peña Nieto is married to one of the network’s most popular soap opera stars, and she campaigned prominently for him.
Reporting was contributed by Damien Cave from Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, Mexico; Karla Zabludovsky from Ecatepec de Morelos, Mexico; Elisabeth Malkin from Mexico City; Mariana Martinez Estens from Tijuana, Mexico; and Thalia I.Longoria from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.