Mexico votes for the new president, the leftist rebel is favored to win | news from the world

Mexicans vote for a new president Sunday in an election intended to hand over power to an anti-establishment outsider who would inject a new dose of nationalism into the government and could sharpen divisions with Donald Trump's United States. The mayor of the city, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, conducted polls throughout the campaign and would be the first leftist to take the presidency for decades in Mexico when he evicted the Centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) at the end of the campaign. power. In the 2006 elections, Lopez Obrador presents himself as the only man able to clean up a political clbad whose credibility has been crushed by persistent corruption, escalating crime levels and years of below-average economic growth [19659002] have the moral and political authority to require that everyone behave with integrity and make honesty a priority as a way of life, "said Lopez Obrador in his campaign finale at a stadium. football in the capital on Wednesday.

The law prohibits the current president Enrique Pena Nieto from being re-elected. But his popularity was eroded when his name was tainted by investigations of alleged conflicts of interest and embezzlement involving senior PRI officials.

Lopez Obrador campaigned tirelessly for Mexico in the last 13 years. "Let's hope Mexico will change," said Oswaldo Angeles, 20, a supporter of Lopez Obrador of Atlacomulco, a longtime bastion of the PRI about 90 kilometers (55 miles). from Mexico City and hometown of Pena Nieto. "At this moment, we do not know if we are coming or going."

Lopez Obrador, 64, was vague about the details of politics. Seeking to mobilize the support of economic nationalists, left-wing liberals and social conservatives, he promises to reduce inequalities, improve wage and social spending, and manage a tight budget.

A virulent opponent of the government's economic program.

But he played with the idea of ​​referendums to resolve controversial issues such as maintaining the opening of the Pena Nieto oil and gas industry to private capital.

His rivals Ricardo Anaya, an ex-leader of the center-right National Action Party (PAN) at the head of a right-left alliance, and PRI candidate, Jose Antonio Meade, former Minister of Finance, differ only in nuances in their support for energy reform. to catch Lopez Obrador were hampered by attacks on each other, allowing him to take a lead that some opinion polls put in excess of 20 percentage points. They also represent the only two parties to have reigned over modern Mexico

TRUMP THREAT

So victorious, Lopez Obrador faces a more difficult security situation than Pena Nieto. The election campaign has been the bloodiest in recent history and killings are breaking records.

The next president will also inherit a dispute with his US counterpart Donald Trump on migration and trade, with talks on the North American Free Trade Agreement (Trump has threatened to launch the North America in a costly trade war against NAFTA, and its insistence that Mexico pay its border wall deeply angered many Mexicans.

Lopez Obrador Trumpden carefully and wants to negotiate an agreement with Trump under which Mexico would work to curb illegal immigration in return for economic support.

If that proves impossible and Trump continues to provoke Mexico, few think the fiercely patriotic Lopez Obrador will remain silent.

How much weight Lopez Obrador can bring both nationally and internationally will depend significantly on his control of Congress, where no party h co even had an absolute majority since 1997 in Latin America no.

Polls suggest that its National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), a party that officially exists only since 2014, could be close to the majority. However, markets may react negatively if voters give him a hand in Congress.

Lopez Obrador has been a division figure in Mexico since immobilizing the capital for weeks with mbadive demonstrations to protest his 2006 electoral loss.

His opinion poll conducted this This time has led badysts to question the depth of support.

"There is a feeling of poor old man (Lopez Obrador), he has not tried yet, it is his turn.We can also try," said Sofia Lara, 25 years old, graphic designer in Mexico supporting Anaya.