Elections to test public support for government's drug war

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MEXICO CITY - President Felipe Calderon and his drug war will get their biggest test of support yet when Mexico holds midterm elections tomorrow amid growing frustration over rampant cartel violence and a shrinking economy.

Calderon's National Action Party, or PAN, has been campaigning as the one party tough on crime and drug trafficking ahead of the elections for 500 congressional seats, 565 mayors and six governorships.

But many Mexicans are fed up with the violence that has left decapitated bodies on the streets from Pacific resorts to small mountain villages -- and that mounting frustration could lead to a comeback for the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

The PRI ruled Mexico for 71 years before losing the presidency to the PAN in 2000. Drug trafficking then was pervasive but never the target of a nationwide crackdown. Since Calderon launched his drug fight after taking office in 2006, more than 10,800 people have been killed by drug-related violence.

Calderon's party has run ads accusing the PRI of ignoring the problem for many years, or worse, being complicit in it, a campaign tactic that angered the PRI and may make it less likely to negotiate with Calderon on future reforms.

Polls published in Mexico's leading newspapers before the campaign officially closed July 1 showed voters likely to give PRI candidates slightly more seats in Congress than the PAN. The PAN currently holds 206 seats in the lower house, nearly double the PRI's 106. That could embolden congressional opposition to Calderon's more controversial measures, including legislation that would give more police powers to 45,000 soldiers deployed across Mexico to counter corrupt law enforcement as part of the drug war.