Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico ? Voters in remote Indian villages and steamy coastal towns chose a governor Sunday for Mexico’s poorest state – the latest political battleground for the leftist party that is disputing the results of last month’s presidential election.

Preliminary results in the southern state of Chiapas showed a tight race between leftist candidate Juan Sabines, 38, of the Democratic Revolution Party, and Jose Antonio Aguilar Bodegas, 56, of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI. With 11 percent of votes counted, Aguilar was leading with 50.41 percent of the vote, to 45.85 percent for Sabines. Polls closed under a heavy rain in the Chiapas capital, Tuxtla Gutierrez, with no reports of violence, although one election observer said irregularities were widespread. About 1,000 national and foreign observers monitored the vote.

“We’ve documented many irregularities: busing in voters … and other tactics to secure the vote” for Sabines, said Enrique Vera, of the Mexican Electoral Observation Movement.

Sabines, a Lopez Obrador ally, said his winning would help stabilize the country.

Aguilar promised to govern for all and “leave behind the retaliation and persecutions” of the current PRD-backed administration.