López Obrador sweeps in
The Mexican left candidate makes history with a populist message against corruption and the establishment; his followers demand a new revolution
Third time lucky for Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), the left-wing populist candidate who romped home in Sunday’s Mexican elections. With unprecedented force and at 64 years of age, AMLO - as he is known, the former mayor of Mexico City will not only be the first president in decades with a leftist policy, but also the first to break the bipartisan hold the mainstream parties had on the country.
More than 53% of Mexicans gave him their vote, making him the most voted president in the history of Mexico. For them it is a vote in their hope for real change.
The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), until now the government and hegemonic until two decades ago, was relegated to a dismal 3rd position. The National Action Party (PAN), which came on the scene 18 years ago, was second, but 30 points behind the victor. No one questioned the victory, something unheard of in Mexican politics. In fact in 2006 AMLO symbolically proclaimed himself president after the courts handed victory (by less than 1%) after a lengthy legal battle, to Vicente Calderón.
Behind the president-elect, who will have to wait five months to take office, is a group of leftist parties, trade unions and evangelicals who back his promise to change the structures of what he calls the “mafia of power,” and with it a commitment to defend “the poor and the forgotten.” Mexico sees in AMLO the saviour who will put an end to the corruption and indomitable criminality that impregnates their lives . In 2017, there were 29,169 murders in the country, and everything suggests that this year the figure will top 30,000.