MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mexican ruling party battered in mid term election

With all odds against, it was difficult for President Felipe Calderon.

The conservative National Action Party (PAN) of Mexican President Felipe Calderon has admitted defeat in mid-term congressional elections. It acknowledged that the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) will dominate the Lower House.

The PRI dominated Mexican politics for seven decades until 1997.

The campaign was overshadowed by a collapsing economy, and the government's drive against drug gangs.

Mr Calderon won a bitterly fought presidential election three years ago promising reforms to restore economic growth.

Mexico has been badly hit this year by the global recession and a drop in the amount of money sent home by migrant workers.

The outbreak of the A/H1N1 virus flu in April has also scared off tourists, which the government has warned may cost the economy more than 2 billion US dollars.

If the PRI is able to form a parliamentary majority, it could block the president's efforts to give more powers to the 45,000 soldiers deployed to root out the country's powerful drug cartels, AP reports.

The PRI was in power for nearly seven decades until losing its majority 12 years ago. Mexicans are electing 500 members of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Congress, as well as six state governors and hundreds of mayors.

Vote counting also showed that the opposition PRI was ahead in the six governorship races.