Baja California Sur, final results

OK, technically not final - they have not been certified yet - but it seems very fair to assume that these will be the official electoral results of the Baja California Sur gubernatorial elections, given that the PRD will not impugn the results. From Milenio:

To his credit, PRD candidate Luis Armando Díaz has accepted his loss, though to his discredit, he foolishly declared victory on election night, against the will of PRD leader Jesús Ortega, but was pushed by, no shocker here, Dolores Padierna of the IDN current, who was one of the main responsible for the PRD's electoral structure in Baja California Sur. As expected, Padierna would come up with something nutty to explain away her paltry performance and to take a stab at the PRD leadership: PAN and PRD actually made a pact so that the PRD candidate would lose. This is, of course, nonsense.

In terms of the results, it is clear that as deputies are elected on a district basis, PAN-PRS (the local party it went in coalition with) will get 9 out of 21 deputies, PRI-PVEM 6, PRT-PT 4, and Nueva Alianza and Convergencia one each. A far more fragmented legislature than before, when PRD-PT had a majority of 12 together. Note, though, that many of the new PAN legislators were until recently perredistas.

Also of note: PRI made quite a comeback by also winning the capital La Paz and the Loreto district. PAN won Comondú, hometown of governor-to-be and former PRD member Marcos Covarrubias, while PRD hung on to the important tourist town of Los Cabos, where the outgoing governor's brother Antonio Agúndez will be the mayor. It must be of some consolation to the PRD that Leonel Cota, the former governor and national party leader who ditched the party, scraped in at barely 11.63 percent and fourth place. No lost love for a man who has gone through half a dozen party the last decade, only to in the end call for a vote for the PRI.

Marcos Covarrubias wins in Baja California Sur

With 97 percent of the PREP completed, Marcos Covarrubias has a 6.5-percent lead over the runner-up, PRI's Ricardo Barroso Agramont, and 40.22 of the vote total. Given that the PRD had run the state since 1999, the third place for its candidate Luis Armando Díaz is a tough defeat. Yet also from the PRI, which has now lost the first two state elections of 2011.

Baja California Sur elections: Marcos Covarrubias, born-again panista

It is not illegal to change parties, and often there are quite legitimate reasons for it - e.g. Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas departure from the PRI in the 1980s stemmed from the party's rightward shift. Other times, candidates themselves do change ideologically - they move to the political left or right, and sometimes do no longer "fit" with their old party. It happens. However, most times in Mexico the decision by a candidate to leave his or her party appears unfortunately motivated by purely opportunistic motivations, such as having lost a party primary for an elected position.

In Baja California Sur, the case of Marcos Covarrubias appears decidedly a case of the latter. While Covarrubias has every right to ditch his old party the PRD in favor of becoming the PAN's candidate for government, his new-found enthusiasm for PAN and president Calderón is reaching new levels: In a debate with the other main candidates for governor -  Ricardo Barroso (PRI-PVEM), Luis Armando Díaz (PRD-PT), and Blanca Meza (of Nueva Alianza, the party that uses children as vote getters) - Covarrubias spent most of the alloted time extolling the virtues of federal programs and glorifying Calderón, who he argued has the highest approval rating in Baja California Sur. The audience responded by booing.

Yes, changing party is one thing - but really, how can one expect to be taken seriously - indeed, that one's new "convictions" truly are such - when one candidate can so easily jump across to an opposition party and assume, line, hook, and singer, all that it parties stand for, from almost literally one day to another?

It certainly helps explain the huge distrust Mexicans exhibit toward their parties, and that so many feel that politicians have very little convictions beyond furthering their own personal ambitions.
People like Marcos Covarrubias - yes, he, too, bailed the PRD just when he failed to become its candidate a few weeks back - certainly contribute to these sentiments.

Baja California Sur: AMLO calls for Mexicans not to vote

In a press conference, AMLO made it clear he does not support the PRD´s gubernatorial candidate in the upcoming state elections Baja California Sur, Luis Armando Díaz, even though the PRD here has not gone in an alliance with the PAN. Notably, AMLO also called for the Sudcalifornianos not to vote at all.

This, again, in stark contrast to Marcelo Ebrard, who backs him.