Mexican president’s celebration set to win most states in Sunday elections

Mexico’s ruling celebration was primed to seize 4 extra state governments after elections on Sunday, preliminary outcomes confirmed, strengthening President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s grip on energy forward of the competition to succeed him in 2024.

Lopez Obrador’s leftist National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) and its allies had been set to win gubernatorial races within the states of Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Hidalgo and Tamaulipas, based on preliminary vote counts by electoral authorities.

Opposition candidates had been main tallies within the central state of Aguascalientes and Durango within the north, broadly consistent with outcomes anticipated by opinion polls. All six states holding elections started Sunday in opposition arms.

Securing 4 of the six governorships would give MORENA management of 20 of Mexico’s 32 regional administrations, and underline the president’s enduring electoral attraction. Governors allied with MORENA additionally run two different states.

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Polls have persistently proven Lopez Obrador is extra well-liked than MORENA, the celebration that was a automobile for his presidential marketing campaign in 2018, when he gained by a landslide.

A 2018 file picture of supporters of presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, of the Morena celebration, anticipate his arrival at Mexico City’s Zocalo plaza. (AP)

Officials near the president anticipate him to have vital affect over his potential successor, and the election victories ought to assist him consolidate his energy.

Grappling with the Covid-19 pandemic, the president has struggled to satisfy marketing campaign pledges to ramp up financial development and considerably decrease gang-fueled violence. His rollout of social welfare packages has buttressed his recognition, nonetheless.

Under Mexican legislation, presidents can serve solely a single six-year time period. Lopez Obrador’s successor is scheduled to be elected in June 2024. Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum and Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard are among the many favorites for the job.

Political analysts are likely to view Sheinbaum as extra ideologically aligned with Lopez Obrador’s base, and Ebrard as extra reasonable, with larger attraction to middle-class voters.