Mexico City ? President Vicente Fox received a clear message from voters who handed his party crushing defeats in key midterm congressional and gubernatorial elections: It’s time to replace promises with action.

In a television interview Monday, Fox said he was willing to forge a new relationship with the newly strengthened opposition in Congress, who stonewalled his major proposals during the first three years of his term. His success could have a major impact on whether his party can hold on to the presidency in 2006.

“Now begins the era of consensus, of accords,” a chastened Fox said, adding that his administration would “redouble its efforts” in the future.

What Fox didn’t make clear was how far he was willing to stray from the ambitious agenda of change he proposed with his historic defeat of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which had ruled Mexico for 71 years.

After his 2000 election, Fox promised euphoric voters millions of new jobs, a migration accord with the United States and major reforms in the labor, economic and energy sectors.

Most of those promises fell flat, victims in part of congressional infighting, an economic recession and the Sept. 11 attacks that derailed the United States’ attention from the needs of its southern neighbor.

In electing governors in six states and lawmakers to all 500 seats in Congress’ lower house, voters made clear they didn’t care what the reasons were.

Others simply didn’t care: Nearly 60 percent of eligible voters didn’t cast a ballot.

“The congressional races were very much a resounding slap in the face to Fox,” said George Grayson, a Mexico expert from The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., who was visiting to observe the elections. “They told him: ‘You promised change, and you didn’t deliver.”‘

Fox’s National Action Party was hoping to gain an edge in Congress, where no party has a majority. Instead, it lost seats as the PRI increased its presence, according to the Federal Electoral Institute, which released preliminary results Monday.

Fox can bounce back, but observers say he will have to revamp his approach if he wants to be remembered for more than delivering empty promises and political gridlock — and if he wants to improve his party’s chances of holding on to the presidency in 2006.

The question is whether Fox — who has failed to demonstrate a willingness or ability to negotiate with the opposition — is able to make such changes. Fox recently told reporters he had no regrets, and said Monday he planned no major changes in his Cabinet.