With 2 more defections, once mighty Sonoran PRI party left without congressional representation

By Murphy Woodhouse
Published: Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - 5:27pm
Updated: Tuesday, September 27, 2022 - 5:52pm

One of Mexico’s most important and longest-standing political parties now has no representation at the state Congress in Sonora.

Up until last year, the Institutional Revolutionary Party — or PRI — controlled the governorship, the mayor’s office in half of the state’s municipalities and held five seats in the state Congress. Since then, the party’s power in the state has waned, and former Gov. Claudia Pavlovich was even booted from its ranks after accepting a diplomatic post offered by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Morena Party.

And this week, with the defection of deputies Ely Sallard and Karina Zarate to the president and current Sonoran Gov. Alfonso Durazo’s Morena party, the PRI now has no representation in the state Congress.

Durazo says he has talked since his 2021 governor’s campaign of the importance of Morena to transcend previous divisions and be open to anyone who wants to contribute to the party’s goals.

Fronteras Sonora