Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Lopez Obrador on brink of historic presidential win
MEXICO CITY » Leftist populist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador was on the brink of a historic presidential win Sunday night as an exit poll gave him an overwhelming lead and both of his chief rivals conceded defeat.
Lopez Obrador, who has vowed to transform Mexico and oust the “mafia of power” that rules the country, had a 16 to 26 point lead over his nearest rival, conservative Ricardo Anaya, and a slightly larger edge over Jose Antonio Meade of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary party, according to the survey by polling firm Consulta Mitofsky.
“The tendency favors Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador . ... I recognize his triumph,” Anaya said in a speech to supporters.
Minutes earlier Meade had also conceded, saying that “for the good of Mexico, I wish him the greatest success.”
Electoral officials had not released any vote returns.
Lopez Obrador, better known as AMLO, has said he will rule Mexico for the poor and fight rampant corruption.
“There is a lot of inequality, a lot of violence in this country,” said Lopez Obrador voter Hugo Carlos, 73. “This situation has to be changed.”
Exit polls by Consulta Mitofsky also forecast clear gubernatorial wins for allies of Lopez Obrador’s Morena party in four of eight state races on the ballot plus for the head of government in Mexico City. The central state of Guanajuato was predicted to go to a candidate of the conservative National Action Party.
Lopez Obrador worries many who fear he could set the country back decades and lead to disaster with an interventionist economic policy.
He has pledged to give scholarships or paid apprenticeships to youth, and increase support payments for the elderly.
“I am concerned that some candidates are making proposals that are impossible, because they’re very expensive to carry out,” said Juan Carlos Limas, 26, who lined up at a Mexico City precinct to vote for Ricardo Anaya, who is running second in polls for a right-left coalition.
All the candidates are lambasting President Donald Trump’s policies against migrants and Mexico, but voters were wondering who could best deal with Trump.
Sunday’s elections for posts at every level of government are Mexico’s largest ever and have become a referendum on corruption, graft and other tricks used to divert taxpayer money to officials’ pockets.
Many saw this election as Lopez Obrador’s best shot at the presidency after 12 years of near-permanent campaigning with his antiestablishment message falling on receptive ears amid widespread disillusionment with politicians.
“The corrupt regime is coming to its end,” Lopez Obrador said at his final campaign event Wednesday. “We represent modernity forged from below.”
Much of the popular ire has been aimed at unpopular President Enrique Pena Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, whose market-oriented economic reforms have yet to benefit many Mexicans, and Meade struggled during the campaign to escape popular rejection of the party.
Anaya tried to harness the youth vote with an emphasis on technology and new ideas, but he divided his own conservative party to take its candidacy and it’s unclear if his new allies in the leftist Democratic Revolution Party will actually turn out for someone from the other end of the ideological spectrum.
Sunday was the first time that an independent candidate appears on the ballot.
Jaime “El Bronco” Rodriguez fought for attention with a horse-mounted “everyman” campaign and by tossing out policy bombs like his proposal to cut off the hands of public officials caught stealing. Without the big party machinery it was an uphill battle.