Many workers and others voted for the PAN as a way to oust the PRI, which has increasingly been identified with economic crisis and corruption. "Our leaders need to know that if they don't do the job right, we're going to get rid of them," said Gustavo Sánchez, 32, an auto mechanic in Ecatepec, a huge proletarian suburb of Mexico City and historically a PRI stronghold.

Some left-wing forces, normally backers of the liberal PRD, gave their support to Fox in these elections, arguing that any way to unseat PRI rule was good.

There were few differences in the PRI and PAN presidential platforms. Fox has pledged to maintain the same basic economic policies--including opening up Mexico's economy to further privatization and U.S. corporate investment--as those pursued by outgoing president Ernesto Zedillo. He also promised to bolster ties with Washington. Raising expectations among working people, he pledged to double the education budget and portrayed his policies as capable of addressing the poverty and unemployment affecting millions.

Of Mexico's 100 million inhabitants, 27 percent live below the official poverty line. The nation's foreign debt to international banks is more than $150 billion.

U.S. capitalists were pleased with the Fox's election, hopeful that his regime will accelerate the opening up of Mexico to imperialist investment and plunder. Despite rhetoric in the U.S. media praising "democracy" in the Mexican elections, what Washington and Wall Street want is a strong-handed regime that can keep a lid on social instability and guarantee their profits.  
 
Related article: Mexico's debt bondage to U.S. imperialism