Rumbo, News Report, Posted: Dec 29, 2011

MEXICO CITY -- A boxer's shorts have led to the cancellation of the results in last month's mayoral election in Morelia, the capital of the Mexican state of Michoacán. Mexico's high court said Wednesday that Mexican boxer Juan Manuel Marquez's use of the logo of Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) on his boxing shorts was unconstitutional.

Marquez wore shorts with the PRI insignia during his boxing match with Philippine fighter Manny Pacquiao in Las Vegas last month. The match took place the day before voters went to the polls in Michoacán, President Felipe Calderon's home state. 

The Michoacán election was the last statewide race before Mexico's 2012 presidential election. Mexicans across the country followed the race closely as a key test of the PRI's popularity. Indeed, the PRI saw a major comeback, winning the mayorship of Morelia and other cities, as well as the governor's race.

The Mexican high court found that Marquez's use of the logo during his televised boxing match, and the five-minute televised appearance of a PRI candidate, were violations of Mexico's rules banning any kind of partisan publicity in the last days before the election.

Members of President Calderon's National Action Party are hoping the court will also dismiss the results of the Michoacán governor's race, where the PRI candidate narrowly beat out Calderon's sister.