Mexico City

ON Sunday, Mexicans turned out in large numbers to vote for change — a change in priorities and approach, and a generational change focused on can-do governing. I am honored that, in me, Mexicans saw that opportunity for change and a new direction.

There may be considerable hand-wringing in the international community that my election somehow signifies a return to the old ways of my party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party or PRI, or a diminished commitment in Mexico’s efforts against organized crime and drugs. Let’s put such worries to rest.

This campaign was about two things. First was the improvement of economic conditions for millions of struggling Mexicans whose daily lives have been touched by the anemic economic growth, which the Mexican National Institute of Statistics says averaged 1.7 percent between 2000 and 2010. Second was an end to the polarization that has paralyzed our politics, making impossible urgently needed reforms in the energy sector, labor markets, education and social security, to mention a few. We cannot postpone those changes any longer.

To those concerned about a return to old ways, fear not. At 45, I am part of a generation of PRI politicians committed to democracy. I reject the practices of the past, in the same way I seek to move forward from the political gridlock of the present. My generation’s objective is not ideology or patronage, but measurable success at liberating Mexicans from poverty. That is how I governed the State of Mexico, the country’s most populous, from 2005 to 2011.