MEXICO CITY (AP) -- The vote to elect the top leadership post for
                  Mexico's ruling party was to have been a test of its newfound desire for
                  internal democracy. In the end, it was barely even a vote.

                  There was one candidate on Tuesday's ballot, former labor Secretary Jose
                  Gonzalez Fernandez, and he wasn't elected unanimously, local media
                  reported. In his new post, Gonzalez Fernandez will oversee what the party
                  promises will be its first open primary race for the 2000 presidential
                  nomination.

                  Addressing party faithful after his election, Gonzalez Fernandez called on
                  members to overcome their differences and praised what he called the first
                  open race for the party leadership spot. In the past, the federal president has
                  controlled party appointments.

                  Gonzalez Fernandez said the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI,
                  welcomes dissident factions and open debate, but he demanded party
                  loyalty. PRI has run the executive branch without interruption for 70 years.

                  He also outlined what could be the party's 2000 political platform: more
                  emphasis on social welfare for the country's poor after a decade of
                  market-oriented policies and steadily falling wages.

                  "This is a party that is wounded by poverty and social inequality ... the
                  government must not abandon the most needy," he said in a speech at the
                  party's downtown Mexico City headquarters.

                  The only other candidate for the party presidency quit the race last week,
                  arguing the elections were unfair.

                  The 288 members of the party's National Political Committee present for the
                  election -- out of about 360 total members -- marked secret ballots and
                  deposited them in transparent urns. Twenty-six members of the commission
                  either left ballots blank or penciled in another name, but their votes were
                  counted in the "annulled votes" category.

                  Gonzalez Fernandez announced his candidacy, received the support of the
                  party's most influential circles and was allowed to leave his Cabinet post
                  hours after the previous party president, Mariano Palacios, resigned earlier
                  this month.

                  That left party mavericks complaining that President Ernesto Zedillo had
                  orchestrated the election of Gonzalez Fernandez. Zedillo has also promised
                  to end the tradition of outgoing presidents choosing the party's federal
                  nominee.

                  While party members will be able to vote in primaries to select the nominee
                  later this year, the leaders of the party's notoriously undemocratic farm,
                  union and civic groups will apparently have an equal say in the choice.

                    Copyright 1999 The Associated Press.