Mexican elections resulted into a historic landslide win for Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, popularly known by his abbreviated name, AMLO. Amlo was elected with at least 53% of the votes polled. There were four candidates in the field. His other three rivals showed dismal performance; Ricardo Anaya receiving around 22% votes, Jose Antonio Meade securing around 16% votes and Jaime Rodriguez received just 5.1% votes. Amlo’s total votes were more than 30% of his closest rival and thus it signifies that Mexico is looking for a rapid change.
Anti-establishment Leftist, 64-year old Mexico’s President-elect and founder leader of the political party ‘Movement for National Regeneration or Morena’(established in 2014); Amlo assured the Mexicans after election results, that he will govern with rectitude and will not disappoint the people of Mexico. It may be noted that Amlo will take charge of Mexico as the country’s first leftist president. Of the 80 million registered voters, an estimated 89 million voters exercised their right to vote on Sunday, July 01, 2018. The former Mayor of Mexico City, Amlo had been running an anti-American campaign for a very long time and had strongly criticized very recently the ‘Family Separation Policy’ of the US.
There were four main points of his presidential election campaign. Firstly, he had pledged and vowed on many occasions to eradicate and get rid of the cancer of corruption that had been destroying his country. Secondly, he had strongly raised his voice against horrific violence in the country, resulting in more than 25,000 murders, including that of 133 politicians, during the last year. Thirdly, he advocated for stopping all energy deals that were not in the interests of the country and fourthly to stimulate the growth in the poor regions.
Mexico and the US: Donald Trump, the US president tweeted on July 01, 2018 and congratulated Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on becoming the next President of Mexico and expressed interest in working together with him for the benefit of both United States and Mexico.
It is feared that the leftist policies of Amlo would create complications and problems in the way of negotiations with his US counterpart about major changes in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). NAFTA came into existence in 1994 for creating a free-trade zone among the trio neighbors – the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.
Since the assumption of his office as the US President in 2017, Donald Trump has been pursuing potential changes in NAFTA in the interests of the US; because of the ballooning trade deficits especially with Mexico. The US president recently called Amlo and discussed various issues such as border security, trade policies, NAFTA and other deals related to US and Mexico. After the conversation, Trump addressed media and mentioned the discussion topics and assured that the relationship with Mexico is going in the right direction.
Amlo stated that he wanted a relationship of “friendship and respect” with the US. He told in an interview on July 02, 2018 with Milenio TV of Mexico that he wanted a trade deal that is good for Mexico. Amlo also mentioned that they are going to accompany the current government in negotiation and will be providing full support in the signing of the agreement.
Silver-haired Amlo will take charge of the office on 1st December, 2018. It was the third presidential bid by Amlo. He had remained unsuccessful in his first and second attempt in 2006 and 2012.
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