Election blow for Mexico's Fox

President Fox has had trouble pushing through reforms

Mexican President Vicente Fox's conservative party lost one-quarter of its seats in Mexico's lower house of Congress, according to final election results announced by federal officials.

In contrast the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), ousted from power after 71 years by Mr Fox in 2000, made a strong comeback in the mid-term elections, which took place on 6 July.

The election - the first since Mr Fox took power - was seen as a referendum on his presidency, halfway through his six-year term.

Correspondents say the results of the key poll show frustration from the electorate at the pace of reform instituted by Mr Fox.

Broken promises

Mr Fox was hampered by an inimical Congress as he tried to push through economic reforms, like opening up the oil industry to private investment and overhauling the taxation system.

His unfulfilled campaign promises include the creation of one million jobs a year, making the economy grow 7%, and reducing poverty.

The president's term has also been blighted by the country's decade-old guerrilla problem in the southern state of Chiapas.

Although final results have been announced, electoral officials have not yet given a breakdown of how many seats each party has won.

Clean sweep

However, one senior official told the Associated Press that Fox's National Action Party (PAN) took just 153 - compared with its previous tally of 202.

And PRI took 224 - a gain on its previous total which stood at 207.

The remaining 28 seats fell to other smaller parties, the unnamed official said.

The election authorities also declared PRI the winner of the governorship election in the state of Campeche.

The result means the PRI won four of the six state governorship elections, which also took place on 6 July.

On Saturday the party was declared the winner of the governor's seat in the state of Sonora.