Leftist populist could be Mexico’s next president
Lopez Obrador has a double- digit lead over Ricardo Anaya
Standing before a roaring crowd in Mexico City at the launch of his presidential campaign, candidate Ricardo Anaya seethed with anger.
“In the last weeks … there have been all kinds of lies,” he said. “From here on we tell the government and the authors of this dirty war that the more resistance we face, the more force we’ll take off with.”
Mexico’s election campaign opens this weekend, freeing the four candidates who have quali- fied for the July 1 vote to register with the government and start spending heavily on advertisements. But the race _ and the drama _ have been heating up for months.
In November, polls had Anaya tied for first place with leftist populist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a three- time presidential candidate and former mayor of Mexico City who is one of the country’s best- known political figures. Trailing them were Margarita Zavala, the wife of former president Felipe Calderon, and Jose Antonio Meade Kuribrena, from Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party.
Anaya, a former senator from the centre- right National Ac- tion Party, had ascended quickly, thanks in part to his scathing criticism of Pena Nieto and his risky pledge to investigate allega- tions of graft by the president and his party.
Until the smear campaign began.
In February, Mexico’s attorneygeneral, a Pena Nieto appointee, announced he was investigating a property deal involving Anaya, saying the candidate was suspected of laundering money.
Independent investigations into the deal have concluded that Anaya likely broke no laws when he bought and sold a plot of land in an industrial park in his home state of Queretaro. A group of public intellectuals _ not all of whom are Anaya supporters _ signed a letter imploring the government to stop politicising law enforcement.
But the investigation has con- tinued, staining Anaya’s image as an anti- corruption crusader and significantly reshaping the race. As support for Anaya has slipped from 30 per cent to 24 per cent, Lopez Obrador has surged. He now has a double- digit lead over Anaya, with 42 per cent support.
The impact of the investigation on Anaya’s campaign shows what an important issue corruption is for many Mexican voters, who are incensed after a seemingly unending string of scandals involving governors, cabinet ministers and other allies of Pena Nieto. A recent poll by the Reforma newspaper found that 47 per cent of voters “would never vote” for his PRI party or its candidate, Meade.