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Last Updated: Feb 18th, 2008 - 14:39:01 |
TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - A Mexican billionaire with a gambling empire who is accused of links to drug cartels lost a gubernatorial election in a state bordering California, results showed on Monday.
Jorge Hank, who has a huge private zoo and once caused outrage by comparing women to animals, trailed National Action Party candidate Jose Guadalupe Osuna in the Baja California state election.
With 90 percent of polling stations reporting, Osuna received around 50 percent support to some 43 percent for Hank.
Hank ran for the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which governed nationally for 71 years until 2000 and was renowned for being corrupt and authoritarian.
During campaigning, critics claimed Hank's run had been funded by drug gangs. Hank denied the accusations and said they were an attempt to derail his campaign and discredit him.
The U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center accused Hank of using his betting business to launder drug money in a 1999 report that was leaked to the media but later discredited by then Attorney General Janet Reno.
Baja California is home to the busiest border crossing in the world, just south of San Diego, Calif.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon sent the military to fight powerful drug cartels who have killed around 1,400 people this year in a brutal turf war.
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