Mexico Congress Paves the Way for Tabasco Hopeful
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Congress cleared the way Wednesday for a member of the country’s former ruling party to take over as provisional governor in the oil-rich state of Tabasco.
The federal Congress authorized a leave of absence for Enrique Priego of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, who last month was named interim governor of Tabasco, throwing the state into upheaval.
The leftist Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, had sought to impeach Priego, saying he was illegally holding the post of interim governor while still sitting in the federal Congress.
By granting Priego leave, the Congress freed him to hold the Tabasco job, a step toward resolving the conflict that began last month when Mexico’s highest electoral court annulled the southeastern state’s Oct. 15 gubernatorial elections, citing irregularities.
The long-ruling PRI, ousted from power in July’s presidential election, is floundering as its factions battle.
After the court decision quashing the Tabasco election, the outgoing governor ordered the state Congress to appoint Priego as interim governor pending a new vote. The incoming state Congress subsequently voted in another interim governor, Adan Augusto Lopez--also a PRI member--giving the state two governors from the same party.
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