Deeper Alliance

The PAN is moving toward an alliance with the PRD in Chiapas in local elections, despite the fact that there is no gubernatorial race this year. I think this is the first case of an alliance existing independently of a governor's contest. Furthermore, there is no claim whatsoever to an alliance being necessary to break the PRI's iron grip on local power; non-priístas have governed the state since 2000. There is a certain logic to the PRD and the PAN putting their differences to one side and uniting to defeat guys like Ulises Ruiz and Mario Marín, but an alliance in a place like Chiapas is hard to justify beyond the immediate electoral calculus.