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Mexican presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador greets supporters Wednesday at the closing rally of his campaign at Mexico's Azteca Stadium. (AFP / Getty Images)
THERE IS AN ELECTION IN MEXICO
There Are Certainly Some
Mexicans go to the polls Sunday to elect a president for a single six-year term and 628 members of the national congress , which for the first time in nearly a century can be reelected. They also choose nine governors, some 1,600 mayors and thousands of state and local lawmakers.
Opinion polls point to the deep irritation of voters with things as they are. The Mexicans stand ready to attack the three parties of the political right, center and left, that have ruled the country's three decades of transition from an autocratic regime to a restless democracy.
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a 64-year-old pugnacious leftist nationalist making a third offer for the presidency, an apparently insurmountable lead over three rivals. Some suggest that his national regeneration movement, or Morena, which he founded just four years ago, could even gain a majority in Congress
WHAT IS REQUIRED?
Mexicans have many reasons to worry. creeping and the justice system sadly inept. Successive governments have proved unable to end the criminal hyper-violence that, in a decade, has left more than 150,000 dead and tens of thousands missing.
After decades of export-oriented industrialization, nearly half of Mexicans remain poor. And President Trump has repeatedly threatened to repeal the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, which fueled this manufacturing boom.
All of this led to a political range for the Mexican political class – irrespective of ideologies – and their allies. Universally known as AMLO, López Obrador has made zero tolerance the cornerstone of this year's campaign.
Weakening a more fervent leftist agenda of the past, AMLO contends that solving blatant inequality and unleashing greater prosperity. Rather than promising a witch hunt for corrupt officials, he suggests that his personal honesty will filter across Mexico's huge public sector, as bleach applied to a stain.
This attracted a lot of skeptics, of course. And AMLO rivals have themselves made anti-corruption promises. But they are facing political parties considered by many as more the problem than the solution.
The masks representing Mexican presidential candidates, leftist, Jose Antonio Meade, Ricardo Anaya and Andrés Manuel López Obrador are on sale in Mexico. City. (AP)
Ricardo Anaya, 39, of the coalition led by the Conservative National Action Party and the left-wing party of the Democratic Revolution, PRD, is accused of bribery involving a real estate deal. Members of both parties, including several governors, have recently been trapped in scandals.
Anaya denied the charges against him.
José Antonio Meade, 49, Yale-trained economist and senior government minister. The candidate of the PRI institutional revolutionary party, enjoys a reputation of honesty and personal competence
But the PRI has suffered scandals of the last four years involving the family of President Enrique Peña Nieto, several senior officials and a dozen governors.
The administration of Peña Nieto is also widely insulted for not having properly investigated the disappearance of September 2014 and the probable killing of 43 college students. teachers, in a local police case associated with a criminal gang. The government's strategy to confront the criminal gangs also proved a failure, with expected murders this year
Independent candidate Jaime Rodríguez Calderón, 60, former PRI politician turned populist governor of the state of north of Nuevo Leon, met with widespread derision this spring when he called in a televised debate to cut off the right hand of any corrupt official recognized. Its support for the polls has been maintained at around 3%
WHAT COMES SOON
Mexican politics, formerly dominated by the presidency, ended long ago. Congress, governors and mayors now have greater power, autonomy and funding.
If he manages to win, López Obrador's ability to push his programs will depend largely on the support of his coalition in Congress. in the state houses and town halls. Polls suggest his coalition will win a large majority of congressional seats, if not an absolute majority.
Whoever wins on Sunday will face Trump for at least two and a half years, which continued to severely criticize Mexico and the Mexicans. He won his election in 2016. Trump asked for a rewrite of NAFTA, and blocked negotiations could end up in the plate of the next president
A border patrol vehicle runs along the US border fence -XXX Sunday in Sunland Park, NM (Getty Images)
Anaya and Meade support the two NAFTA, according to which 80% of Mexican exports go to the United States, and the market-friendly economic policies that were built around him .
While he says he supports the trade deal, AMLO said Mexico would do well without it. He called for replacing imports of US agricultural and energy products with Mexican products.
His advisers say that López Obrador wants to attract private investment to replace government spending. But he also called for reviewing the recent contracts awarded to Mexican and foreign companies for the production of energy and public works, including the $ 9 billion international airport built outside of Mexico City
Trump deeply unpopular in Mexico. stand in front of him. But López Obrador, like Trump, is known for his particular tenacity with his opponents. And analysts say his more nationalistic view of the world was shaped by the historical mistrust of the Mexican political class toward US intentions.
A more provocative approach to Trump could disrupt binational cooperation on trade, law enforcement, immigration, border security and the environment. Diplomats say these ties lasted here despite public quarrels over the last 18 months.
The next president will face rampant political violence in much of the country, where personal rivalries or criminal attempts to control governments have led to killings. attacks on officials and political candidates. More than 130 people have been killed in 550 of these attacks since last September, reports consulting firm Etellekt. Most of the violence was targeted at municipal office holders and candidates.
