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June 11, 2021

Mexican president suffers setback in country's deadliest election in decades

Mexicans in the country鈥檚 , widely seen as a referendum on his administration鈥檚 self-proclaimed 鈥溾�� of Mexico.

L贸pez Obrador had hoped to secure the two-thirds congressional supermajority required to usher through uncontested. Instead, preliminary results indicate his Morena party will lose in Mexico鈥檚 lower house of Congress. Morena currently holds but effectively controls because of its alliances, mainly with the Labor Party and the 鈥� which despite its name .

Morena holds , which weren鈥檛 up for election this year.

This was the , both in voting population and candidacies. Some 94 million Mexicans cast ballots for . All 500 seats in the lower house of Congress were up for grabs, as were 15 governorships, 1,923 mayoralties and thousands of other local posts.

It was also Mexico鈥檚 deadliest election in recent history.

According to the Etellekt consulting firm, since campaigning began last September. Hundreds more candidates were . Nearly 200 poll sites were shuttered in the states of because officials there said they could not guarantee the safety of voters.

A bloody race

The main opposition that dented Morena鈥檚 dominance was a of Mexico鈥檚 : the center-right Revolutionary Institutional Party, right-wing National Action Party and leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution. The Citizen鈥檚 Movement, a social-democratic party, .

Morena and is leading in 10 of 15 gubernatorial races. But it suffered in Mexico City, .

L贸pez Obrador , after promising to put 鈥溾�� and , which consistently has among the world鈥檚 highest murder rates.

Instead, he has overseen rising poverty and the most violent period of Mexican history, with .

Mexico鈥檚 crime wave began well before the L贸pez Obrador administration, with President Felipe Calderon鈥檚 2006 declaration of a 鈥溾�� that got .

Rather than follow through on his creative campaign pledges to reduce violence, L贸pez Obrador has , expanding the military鈥檚 involvement in law enforcement despite its .

Most electoral violence seen during the midterm election season occurred in the cartel-dominated Mexican states of . There, criminal groups often offer local public servants and candidates the infamous choice of 鈥�,鈥� which translates to 鈥減lata o plomo.鈥� In other words, take a bribe or get shot.

against politicians or candidates this election season were against local officials. Municipal leaders are appealing targets because criminal groups can intimidate lower-level officials into handing over parts of municipal budgets or calling off local police.

Campaigning at press conferences

Out of 89 murdered politicians, . Even so, L贸pez Obrador dismisses reports on Mexico鈥檚 electoral violence as .

In his June 2 daily press conference, Mexicans 鈥渄o not live in a perfect society鈥� but claimed 鈥減eace and tranquility鈥� reign.

The president鈥檚 morning press conferences, which can last for up to three hours, frequently include diatribes against the reporters asking him questions, attacks on and accusations against . He also uses press conferences to attack .

The and prohibit public officials from using the government machinery to promote themselves or their political allies during elections.

After Mexico鈥檚 National Electoral Institute told the president at press conferences, he said the . He successfully it before the .

Such moves have polarized the Mexican electorate.

L贸pez Obrador maintains the support of of Mexicans, who crave the promised 鈥渢ransformation鈥� of their long-struggling nation. But many civil society leaders and intellectuals in the president鈥檚 combative rhetoric and policy agenda.

Since 2018, Morena and approved . Many have and .

Critics say L贸pez Obrador is creating a government grounded on his , without traditional checks and balances, and weakening Mexico鈥檚 democratic institutions.

They cite, for example, a court reform billed as that unexpectedly and controversially Arturo Zald铆var, a vocal L贸pez Obrador ally.

Critics claim this maneuver and .

Other Morena legislation raises privacy concerns. A passed this year requires cellphone companies to gather users鈥� identification and biometric data, like eye scans, and turn it over to the government.

Simultaneously, Morena has , a government watchdog that .

[Understand what鈥檚 going on in Washington. .]

The president also threatened to after it rebuked him for electioneering at his morning press conferences.

鈥楾o hell with their institutions鈥�

In 2006, L贸pez Obrador ran for president and lost by 0.56 percentage points to . He cried fraud and contested the result.

鈥�!鈥� he said after .

It was L贸pez Obrador鈥檚 first of two failed presidential runs.

Now, he鈥檚 president. But L贸pez Obrador still seems convinced that the institutions of Mexican democracy 鈥� its independent judiciary, its election watchdogs, its budget monitors 鈥� are against him.

Mexican voters had the option to strengthen L贸pez Obrador鈥檚 grasp on power. But they used the midterms to maintain democratic constraints on the presidency, checking an ambitious president鈥檚 legislative agenda.

This article has been corrected to more accurately characterize the ideological positioning of Mexico鈥檚 mainstream political parties.

, Senior Lecturer in Human Rights, Constitutional Law and Legal Theory,

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. 

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