Mexico: "President AMLO is doing quite well"

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at a press conference on the results of the midterm elections, at the National Palace in Mexico City, June 7, 2021. REUTERS - HENRY ROMERO

Text by: Marie Normand Follow

4 min

Although the full results of the “mega-elections” held in Mexico on Sunday June 6 are not yet known, initial estimates show that the Morena presidential party has lost ground in the Chamber of Deputies and will not retain absolute majority.

Three questions to geographer Alain Musset, professor at EHESS and author of

Mexico

 in the collection “Que sais-je?

"

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RFI

: Can we speak of a failure for President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

?

Alain Musset

:

This is major for Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), it is a personal disaster: he will never reach the number of seats that would allow him to undertake constitutional reforms. But is this a real failure, given all the problems encountered by Mexico? First, there is violence: nearly 35,000 homicides were recorded in 2020 and the election campaign was terrible for the candidates, nearly 100 of them

were murdered

.

In addition, Mexico has officially recorded nearly 230,000 deaths from Covid-19 and AMLO has been criticized for its denial of the problem and its late management of the crisis.

We can therefore be surprised at the good result obtained by his party, Morena, and by the government alliance.

Indeed it is not a triumph, but it is not totally dramatic.

AMLO is even doing quite well.

► To read also: Legislative in Mexico: decline of the presidential party

How do you explain that he achieved this result

?

What saves him is his

charisma

and his sense of relationships.

But what especially helped him is that there is no one in front!

Opposite, we observe a completely incongruous alliance, which may even seem completely absurd, since it is about three parties which have nothing to do with each other, are opposed on everything and only agree on their opposition. at AMLO.

This has not convinced Mexicans, who are generally very disappointed with politics.

You spoke of a personal disaster for President Lopez Obrador.

What consequences can this relative weakening have on the policy he will pursue until the end of his mandate

?

He was really aiming for those famous 334 seats that would have allowed him to make constitutional reforms through the Assembly alone. It will therefore not be possible, because he will lose his absolute majority. But he has allies. This government alliance will always be in the majority and will retain great latitude in carrying out its policy. But the economic and social situation is such that he will not be able to lead what he intended to be the great transformation of Mexico.

AMLO intended to put everything back on track.

This project was already complicated at the base, but with this drop in the number of representatives in the House, and therefore symbolically a drop in its political scope, it will be really difficult to follow through on his ideas.

We are halfway through: AMLO has only two years left to work and the electoral system does not allow him to stand for re-election.

The chance of his life is now.

The future is really going to be dotted.

► Also to listen: Mexico: "It is a particularly unprecedented and uncertain electoral moment"

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