A majority of Mexico's chamber of deputies on Monday demanded the resignation or suspension of Oaxaca state governor Ulises Ruiz, after five months of fierce demonstrations in the tourist region.
The conservative National Action Party (PAN), of President Vicente Fox and the liberal Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) both voted in favour of the text "asking for the immediate departure of Ulises Ruiz," PRD spokeswoman Maria Elena Torres. Two-thirds of the deputies present in the lower chamber approved the resolution, while legislators of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, to which Ruiz belongs, voted mostly against, while some abstained.
The Green Party also voted against.
While the resolution is symbolic -- only the Senate may remove a governor -- the vote will likely increase pressure on Ruiz who has been criticised for his handling of the protests.
In June angry strikers took over government offices demanding the resignation of Ruiz, whom they said had gone too far in putting down demonstrations.
In Oaxaca, officials said on Monday that federal riot police who moved into the restive city on the weekend would remain in place until order was restored, a day after operations to clear out a tent-city protest left one demonstrator dead, bringing to nine the total of persons killed in the five months of protests.