LEFTIST SET TO TAKE REINS IN MEXICO
LÓPEZ OBRADOR POISED TO SECURE SWEEPING MANDATE TO REMOULD PUBLIC POLICY
As votes were tallied Monday following a historic election, Andrés Manuel López Obrador appeared close to gaining control of congress as well as the presidency — a resounding mandate for the country’s first leftist leader in decades.
López Obrador won more than 50 per cent of the vote, the most in the history of Mexico’s multiparty democracy, according to incomplete returns. The electoral results will give him broad power to reshape public policy, which has largely been set by pro-American, free-market-oriented politicians in recent decades.
The peso dropped about one per cent on news of his victory, not as dramatic a slide as some had predicted, but a sign the markets are skeptical of López Obrador’s platform, which features a surge in spending on welfare programs. In a speech late Sunday, López Obrador tried to quell concerns, saying he would not increase taxes or the public debt and would respect the country’s private sector.
Preliminary results suggested members of his Morena party would take at least 260 of the 500 seats in the lower house of congress and roughly 65 of 128 seats in the senate.
U.S. President Donald Trump loomed in the background of this vote. He was not a wedge issue — all the presidential candidates opposed his immigration and trade policies and his anti-Mexican rhetoric — but the new president will have to manage cross-border relations that are unusually fraught. Although he has spoken bitterly about Trump for nearly two years, López Obrador said he desired a “friendship and mutual respect” with the United States.
López Obrador, 64, a longtime leftist standardbearer and former mayor of Mexico City, scored a stunning victory by promising to battle corruption and improve the lives of the poor. He has pledged to increase subsidies to the elderly and people with a disability, provide scholarships to students and re-examine a 2013 restructuring to liberalize Mexico’s state-run oil industry.
During the campaign, many mainstream politicians and business executives expressed concern that such economic policies could present a danger to Mexico. But after his victory his rivals struck a conciliatory tone, calling Sunday’s result a triumph of Mexican democracy.
An official “quick count” from a national sampling of ballots forecast López Obrador would win with between 53 per cent and 53.8 per cent of the vote. That put him far ahead of his main opponents, Ricardo Anaya and José Antonio Meade, who conceded Sunday night.
In his victory speeches, López Obrador called on Mexicans to reconcile and said his government would represent all citizens.
“We will respect everyone,” he said at a downtown hotel. “But we will give preference to the most humble and forgotten.”
But many Mexicans were dubious.
“There is so much wrong. I think some people voted for López Obrador, but the majority voted for a change that we need,” said Fernando Torres, a 23-year-old publicity agent who was walking on Paseo de la Reforma, a major downtown boulevard.
López Obrador’s victory represents an emphatic rejection of the traditional politicians whom he regularly calls the “mafia of power.” His role models are Mexican independence and revolutionary leaders who stood up to more powerful foreign countries.
López Obrador’s critics warn he will be more combative toward the United States than the current president, and the U.S.-Mexico conflict could drastically escalate if he chooses to fight with Trump.
In prior years, López Obrador was a critic of the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, but he and his team have insisted they want to preserve it and maintain good relations with Trump.
Trump has regularly attacked Mexico for not doing enough to stop drugs, crime and undocumented immigrants from entering the United States. He has also initiated a renegotiation of NAFTA, saying Mexico has stolen U.S. jobs, and intends to build a border wall.
But Trump tweeted his congratulations to López Obrador on Sunday night, adding: “I look very much forward to working with him. There is much to be done that will benefit both the United States and Mexico!”
López Obrador expressed appreciation for the tweet, telling Mexico’s Televisa network it was “very respectful.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also issued a statement congratulating Lopez Obrador on his victory.
The statement says “Canada and Mexico are close friends and longtime partners” who share a mutually beneficial trading relationship that is the envy of the world and is reflected in the effort to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Trudeau says he looks forward to working closely with Lopez Obrador to build on the “vibrant partnership” between Canada and Mexico to create economic growth that works for everyone, and advances human rights and equality.