Mexico votes for new president, leftist rebel is favored to win



[ad_1]

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. Mayor 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 ousted the ruling Centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

Finalist in 2012 and 2006 elections, Mr. Lopez Obrador stands as the only man able to clean up a political clbad whose credibility has been shattered by persistent corruption, escalating crime levels and years of growth below average economic

"The new president of Mexico will have the moral and political authority to require that everyone behaves with integrity and makes honesty a priority as a fashion of life, "said Lopez Obrador during the final of his campaign at a football stadium. in the capital Wednesday.

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

campaigning tirelessly in Mexico for 13 years, Mr. Lopez Obrador watched political careers "Let's hope Mexico changes," said Oswaldo Angeles (20), a supporter of Lopez Obrador of Atlacomulco, a PRI bastion some 90 km from Mexico City and home town from 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 Mr. Lopez Obrador were hampered by attacks on each other, allowing him to take a lead that some polls put in excess of 20 percentage points. They also represent the only two parties to have ruled over modern Mexico

Threat of Trump

In case of victory, Mr. Lopez Obrador faces a more difficult security situation than Mr. 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 (NAFTA) unresolved, making pressure on the Mexican peso.

Trump threatened to launch North America into a costly trade war over NAFTA, and his insistence that Mexico pay for his planned border wall has deeply angered many Mexicans.

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

If that proves impossible and Mr. Trump continues to provoke Mexico, few people think fiercely. The patriot Mr. Lopez Obrador will remain silent.

The weight that Mr. Lopez Obrador can exert both domestically and internationally will depend significantly on his control of Congress, where no party has had an absolute majority since 1997 in Latin America. .

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 the immobilization of much of the capital for weeks with mbadive demonstrations to protest his 2006 electoral loss.

Opinion conducted this year has led badysts to question what support really is.

"There is a feeling of poor old [Lopez Obrador] he is not gone yet, it is his turn.We can just as well try," said Sofia Lara (25 ), graphic designer in Mexico supporting Anaya

[ad_2]
Source link