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million. López Obrador won nearly 54% of the vote, according to more than half of the ballots counted by the Mexican electoral agency. It was more than 30 percentage points more than his closest rival, conservative
Ricardo Anaya,
who got about 23% of the votes.
Jose Antonio Meade
of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, won only 15% of the vote
The margin of victory and the total of the winners were the largest in Mexico since 1982, before the country became a complete democracy
. López Obrador's coalition, led by its Movement for National Regeneration, or Morena, also claimed an absolute majority in both chambers of the Mexican Congress, winning 312 of the 500 seats in the lower house and 72 of the 128 seats in the Senate, according to the election agency estimates seen by the Wall Street Journal. He also won four of eight state governor races, and the mayor's office in Mexico City.
The results mark the first time since 1997 that a Mexican president will have control of the congress, and also the first time since 1997 that the same party will control the federal government and Mexico City.
Monday morning, Mr. Lopez Obrador thanked the President of the United States.
Donald Trump
to send congratulations Sunday night. He said that Mexico would seek to keep a respectful relationship with the Trump administration. President Donald Trump congratulated Mr López Obrador in a tweet, saying: "I am very much looking forward to working with him."
"We will not fight," López Obrador told the Televisa network. "We will extend our open hand to seek a friendship relationship with the United States" He added that he would act "with great caution" in any response to Mr. Trump's often bellicose tweets.
Late Sunday, the victory of the left sparked scenes of jubilation across Mexico. As Mr López Obrador, who has made a stark lifestyle his brand, was driven in his own Volkswagen Jetta to the central Zocalo Historic Square in Mexico City to give his victory speech, cars honked in celebration, pbaders-by greeted him , and bus pbadengers leaned out the windows to encourage it.
In his victory speech, he declared a new era for Mexican democracy on behalf of the poor. But he also tried to calm fears that he will bring Mexico back to a bygone era of all-powerful presidents, pledging to respect the independence of key institutions like the central bank, to stabilize finances and allow businesses to operate freely. [19659002"Wearegoingtocreateagenuinedemocracy"Wearenottryingtorebuildaconvictionthatithasbeenovertaken"hesaidtothemedia
. Until now, the financial markets seemed to be taking the former mayor's victory in the right direction. The Mexican peso was lower Monday at 20.10 pesos against the US dollar, against 19.91 Friday night, but still stronger than its last low against the greenback.
The result upsets Mexican politics and its traditional parties. President Enrique Peña Nieto and the ruling party PRI – a party that ruled Mexico was not disputed during most of the 20th century and came back to power in 2012 after 12 years of rule. opposition. The PRI had its worst result since its inception in the late 1920s, and it was expected that it would gain about 43 seats in the 500-member lower house, up from 204 currently.
López Obrador's victory could signal potentially far-reaching changes in the country's foreign policy – including a more distant relationship with the United States – and the free-market economic model of Mexico, where the leftist will probably put more emphasis on Focus on government use for
His overwhelming victory was a major boost for the left in Latin America, where left-wing leaders in Brazil and Argentina were removed from office and given Others in Venezuela and Nicaragua have been discredited as autocrats.
million. López Obrador is a widely known and controversial politician in Mexico. Supporters consider it the only hope for cleaning up Mexican politics; critics consider him a messianic populist. Mr. López Obrador narrowly lost the 2006 and 2012 presidential elections.
This time, he took advantage of growing voter discontent after a series of corruption scandals under the leadership of Mr. Peña Nieto. At least 10 governors of Mexican states, mainly from the ruling party, or PRI, have been convicted, arrested or accused of embezzlement and other crimes in recent years. For many voters, the election was about "change" – a change from the traditional political parties that they see as venal, rising criminal violence and an open economy that sparked a boom. investment without reducing poverty or
Margarita Silva, 45-year-old English teacher in the state of Hidalgo (center), said that she had voted for Peña Nieto in 2012, but this time voted for López Obrador
. "It will not be possible to get rid of the corruption from one day to the next, but at least it will be able to start," she said while she was lining up early Sunday in a polling station.
López Obrador puts Mexico in unexplored waters. He will be the country's first left-wing president since the 1980s, the country's first impoverished south for more than 70 years, and the first president to not represent one of the two major political parties in a century. The 64-year-old man will also be the oldest president since 1913.
López Obrador's proposals are focused on increasing social spending and public investment, including a public works program aimed at employing 2.3 million young people, grants to 300,000 students and a plan to double pensions. He compares his plan to the New Deal under the presidency of the United States
Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
To pay for his plan, Mr. López Obrador said that he would not raise taxes, but that he would save $ 25 billion a year by ending corruption and saving money. $ 20 billion more per year through an austerity plan Many economists say that the candidate's estimates of corruption and austerity savings are unrealistic and that he will have the the choice between reducing its promises or going into debt, which could harm Mexico's hard-won financial stability.
His victory could bring Mexico back to its foreign policy of the 1960s and 1970s, which sought to chart a path independent of the United States and to ally with leftist governments around Latin America. It is likely to end, for example, the increasingly virulent critics of Mexico on the authoritarian government of the President of Venezuela
Nicolás Maduro.
Already, the leftists of the region, who have suffered a wave of electoral defeats in recent years, have welcomed the victory of Mr. López Obrador. Among those who expressed their support, there was Mr. Maduro of Venezuela, former Argentine President
Cristina Kirchner,
The former leader of Brazil
Dilma Rousseff
and Evo Morales of Bolivia
. It could also mean a more distant relationship with the United States, ending a period of 30 years leading to increased cooperation in areas ranging from migration and terrorism to the fight against illicit drugs. Meanwhile, most Mexican presidents had studied at American universities, particularly in the Ivy League, and spoke English
. Lopez Obrador, on the other hand, grew up at a time when the United States was considered the historical enemy of Mexico. He admired Cuba and the former Chilean socialist leader
Salvador Allende,
who was overthrown in a US-backed coup. A baseball fan, he has rarely traveled to outside Mexico.
"López Obrador is Mexico's least international president for a long time", said
Moises Naim,
Former Venezuelan Trade Minister and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Fellow. "It will be a Mexico looking inward."
The ties between the United States and Mexico have suffered under Mr. Trump and could be stretched further under Mr. López Obrador. He promised to be "cautious and respectful" of Mr. Trump, but also said that he would confront him, even on Twitter, while he continued to intimidate Mexico.
In taking office, Mr. López Obrador will meet the highest expectations by voters since the 2000 elections when Conservative
Vicente Fox
completed the PRI's 70 years of power. Since then, many Mexicans have felt disillusioned by a democratic experience marked by low economic growth, and corruption and homicide rates have nearly tripled between 2000 and today.
Much of the appeal of Mr. López Obrador to voters and his blueprint A simple diagnosis of what hurts Mexico: a "mafia of power" made up of politicians and men d & rsquo; # 39; leading business that, according to him, have looted the country and detained ordinary Mexicans. In closing, he promises the country's fourth great transformation, after the independence of 1821 from Spain, the liberal reforms in the mid-1860s and the revolution of 1910.
López Obrador, however, n & rsquo; Did not offer specific proposals on how to deal with corruption, saying that other elected officials would follow his example of honesty.
Many believe that Mr. López Obrador is a danger to Mexico's young democracy. He barely tolerates criticism and has criticized in the past institutions that do not agree with him. He has said repeatedly that he is wary of civil society.
Relationships with the best Mexican businessmen promise to be contentious. He promised to cancel a major education review that established merit-based exams and rebadessed the openness of the oil industry to private companies – two of the major successes of the mandate. Mr. Peña Nieto defended by the private sector
– Anthony Harrup, José de Córdoba and Héctor Hernández contributed to this article.
Write to Juan Montes at [email protected] and Robbie Whelan at [email protected]
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