Still Up in the Air

The Durango governor's seat remains undecided. The initial results have the PRI's Jorge Herrera up by 10,000 votes, about 1.8 percent of the total. Not all of the ballots have been counted, but the PAN and the PRD have promised a fight in the electoral tribunals if the results don't swing their way, and they (of course) are planning a protest march. If they do have proof of wrongdoing and fraud, then by all means their case should be heard (though the electoral tribunals and the newspapers would be a more appropriate venue than the streets of Gómez Palacio and Durango), but it's unfortunate that anytime there is a reasonably close election, the losing party --whichever it happens to be-- immediately takes the fight to the courts. A margin of 1.8 percent is close, but it's not that much of a nail-biter. The amount of time, money, and effort lost to these challenges (which are almost always fruitless) is significant.