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It is not every day that a nation wakes up after a presidential vote and collectively wears the colors of its national flag.
In Mexico on Monday, this national pride had something to do with a World Cup football match. But the image of unity in the masses dressed in jersey and waved by the flag was a reflection of the energy and hope that reigned here after Sunday's historic presidential vote [19659003] Andrés Manuel López Obrador, three-time candidate, AMLO, took the chair with about 53 percent of the ballots. This is the first absolute majority won by a president in nearly two decades, and with 30 points between him and his closest competitor, the highest winning margin since 1982.
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Mexicans have long been deeply cynical as regards their elected representatives. This has been particularly true for the past six years, under the presidency of a president who has evolved on a platform of change, but who has become synonymous with all too familiar scourges like corruption and violence
. hope for many here. He promised to end corruption and steer the country into a new path that leaves behind violence and unemployment. There are still many Mexicans, many of whom have expressed a desire for change, who are skeptical as to what sort of leader he will be, or if he can deliver on his promises.
Yet his victory, with the force of rejection of the country's traditional parties, could signal a radical change in the way Mexicans approach politics. After almost two decades of multiparty democracy under the Conservative NAP and the outgoing PRI, voters can now approach politics not with fixed loyalty to a party, but as "consumers" choosing the best candidate for their current status.
FOR MEXICAN DEMOCRACY
It is a marked change, but that the establishment parties have laid the groundwork – and that voters now welcome.
"For the first time in memory," says Armando Zuñiga, a retiree who voted for AMLO this year after voting for PAN and PRI in the last three elections, "I feel optimistic."
In the first few days since its historic victory, AMLO has managed to allay the fears of business circles and international investors. While letting his supporters know that his goal remains to raise the poor and improve conditions for the most vulnerable and neglected. "For the good of all, first the poor," he shouted his victory speech on Sunday. The PRI and PAN candidates conceded until 9 pm – hour before the Electoral Institute released its first quick count results.
"What I think we are observing and will continue to see in Mexico, is that the voter has become," says Duncan Wood, director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center, based in Washington. "" Before, you were a PRIista, a PANista or a PRDista, "he says, loyal to a party regardless of the party's candidate." Now we are in a new reality where voters choose the party. 39; option that has the most meaning for their lives at that time. "
This election – and the abandonment of party identity – will have a lasting impact on the old party system , analysts say.
"Nobody would have been unlucky 20 or 30 years ago that the three parties [PAN, PRD, and PRI] who gave us electoral democracy, which led to the safe harbor during the last generation, Federico Estévez, professor of political science at the Institute Technological Autonomous of Mexico, who followed the political rebirth of the country since the late 1980s.
These parties have not met the expectations of citizens since the transition from Mexico to Mexico. multi-party democracy in 2000, after more than 70 years of uninterrupted rule of the PRI. But they have played a key role in creating a landscape where citizens understand the importance of their voice in democracy, observers say.
The three previous Presidents, Vicente Fox, Felipe Calderón and Enrique Peña Nieto, have worked on According to Valeria Scorza, Program Director of the Avina Foundation, who works on collaborative, citizen-centered social change projects, she expects citizens that they reinforce and reinforce themselves "over the past 18 years." Even AMLO supporters – to continue to take to the streets and hold the government accountable under this administration, something that Mexico has seen growing in recent years amidst human rights scandals and corruption.
But the enthusiasm aroused by AMLO has generated more than hope and hope. Enthusiasm – this created high stakes for the president.His party won majorities in both houses of Congress and it is three years before the mid-term elections, leaving him little apology s & ## 39 he does not succeed not to pass the promised policy changes.
"AMLO is not a saint" for the MORENA party of López Obrador through the ticket. "I do not put it on a pedestal, but I expect it to change things, which is why I voted for it." M & # 39; has given hope for the future. "
In a column for the main Reforma newspaper, political scientist Denise Dresser summed up the concerns of many voters and detractors of AMLO,
"I'm not afraid that Mexico will become Venezuela.", She writes of a common fear tactic used against AMLO in previous elections, because of her left-wing agenda and her rhetoric populist. "I'm afraid Mexico will stay the same Mexico."
But in the middle of the celebrations on Sunday evening Zocalo historic place, the cars honking in the streets of the city and the screams of open windows, there is also "I'm happy that" El Peje "has won ", says Carolina, using the nickname AMLO which refers to a freshwater fish with sharp teeth from her native state of Tabasco. . "I love his ideas, but he's not going to change Mexico alone," says the bank employee who asked not to use his last name. "Change means everyone, if we do not change [as a society] nothing will change, I'm hopeful, but we all have a role to play."
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