MEXICO CITY: Anti-establishment leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador swept to victory in Mexico’s presidential election on Monday, in a political sea change driven by voters’ anger over endemic corruption and brutal violence. The sharp-tongued, silver-haired politician known as “Amlo” won 53 per cent of the vote, according to an official projection of the results.

It is the first time in Mexico’s modern history a candidate has won more than half the vote in a competitive election, and a resounding rejection of the two parties that have governed the country for nearly a century.

Lopez Obrador, 64, sought to downplay fears of radicalism, after critics branded him a “tropical Messiah” who would install Venezuela-style policies that could wreck Latin America’s second-largest economy. “Our new national project seeks an authentic democracy. We are not looking to construct a dictatorship, either open or hidden,” he told cheering supporters, promising to safeguard freedoms, respect the private sector and work to reconcile a divided nation.

He also vowed to pursue a relationship of “friendship and cooperation” with the United States, Mexico’s key trading partner — a change in tone from some comments during the campaign, when he said he would put US President Donald Trump “in his place”. Trump, whose anti-trade, anti-immigration policies have infuriated Mexico, appeared ready to start off on the right foot. “I look very much forward to working with him,” he tweeted. “There is much to be done that will benefit both the United States and Mexico!”

Canada’s Justin Trudeau echoed the congratulations while emphasising his country’s work with Mexico to renegotiate the Nafta trade pact — an effort that has stalled over attempts to satisfy Trump’s demands. “Canada and Mexico are close friends and longtime partners. We share common goals, strong people to people ties, and a mutually beneficial trading relationship that is the envy of the world,” Trudeau said.

In his victory speech, Lopez Obrador cited one overriding priority: eradicating the country’s festering corruption. “We are absolutely convinced that [corruption] is the cause of our social and economic inequalities, and corruption also unleashed the violence our country is suffering,” he said.

It will not be easy, warned Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington. “That will be one of his biggest challenges, given the power of the drug cartels and their connections to government and the armed forces,” he said. “There is a very entren­ched, corrupt and powerful political class.”

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2018