Mexicans support AMLO as leader in recall referendum

(Bloomberg) Mexican voters overwhelmingly supported President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to end his six-year term in a recall referendum held on Sunday, which was requested by the leader himself. However, voting will not be binding with participation below half the 40% threshold.

López Obrador won between 90.3% and 91.9% of the votes, according to preliminary results announced by the nation's electoral institute on Sunday night. Turnout was between 17% and 18.2% of eligible voters, slightly more than some analysts expected.

A firm believer in direct democracy, the popular president known as AMLO promised in his 2018 election campaign that he would give voters the opportunity to remove him from office in the second half of his term. Given that the leader scored 57% in the most recent El Financiero poll and opposition parties boycotting the vote, no one thought his presidency was in danger.

Javier Martín Reyes, political analyst at both the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the CIDE research center in Mexico City, emphasized that we are talking about almost 14 million people who voted for AMLO, which is not a negligible number. However, that number is far from the 30 million votes AMLO won in 2018.

Political maneuver

Critics argued that the vote was really a tactic to energize the López Obrador base as it enters a period generally seen as a lackluster phase of the Mexican presidency, as the media focuses on who might be the next leader. The Constitution does not allow Mexican presidents to be re-elected.

The electoral institute operated a fraction of the voting booths it would normally use for a national election, after López Obrador cut his budget last year. It may use the relatively low number of polling stations to continue its long-standing attacks on the institute, which it is trying to reform.

Electricity, Electoral Reforms

Despite the fact that turnout did not reach the 40% needed to make the vote binding, many observers believe that López Obrador will use the overwhelming victory as a means to pressure legislators to pass laws that are expected to languish in Congress.

Its alliance with the Morena party falls short of the two-thirds majority needed in each House to change the Constitution, which means it needs opposition support to pass reforms in everything from electricity to the electoral system.

Original Note:

Mexicans Back AMLO as Leader in Recall Vote With Low Turnout (1)

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