Mayor to run under PRI banner for governor

After a day of intense, drawn-out discussions, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) has named the 35-year-old mayor of Guadalajara as its candidate for the governor of Jalisco in the July 1 election.

Jorge Aristoteles Sandoval Diaz was chosen by party officials in a meeting headed by the PRI’s national president, Pedro Joaquin Coldwell, at party headquarters in Mexico City on Thursday, January 5.

Sandoval was selected ahead of six other aspiring candidates, who have agreed to support his campaign. “We are absolutely determined to go on together. Our commitment is to unify behind one candidate,” said Jalisco Senator Ramiro Hernandez, who had also sought the party’s nomination.

Like the PRI’s presidential candidate, Enrique Peña Nieto, Sandoval is a young, handsome figure, typical of the new image the party seeks to project. The PRI is aiming to end the dominance of the National Action Party (PAN), which has held the Jalisco governorship for 18 years.