Mexican election: landslide for the left

In the Mexican presidential election held on July 1, the left-wing candidate, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known by his initials AMLO, won a commanding 53.2% of the vote, with Ricardo Anaya, who led a right-left coalition, in a very distant second with 22.3%.  The candidate of the current governing Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), José Antonio Meade, was third with just 16.4%.

AMLO’s vote share was the highest in a Mexican presidential election since 1982, and he is the first to win an absolute majority of the popular vote since 1988.  The PRI was dominant in Mexican elections during the twentieth century before they were defeated by Vicente Fox of the conservative National Action Party (PAN) in 2000.

Prior to the election, coalitions were formed that did not necessarily include like-minded parties.  AMLO’s coalition included his own MORENA party and the Labor Party, but also the evangelical Social Encounter Party.  Anaya’s coalition included his own PAN, but also the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) and Citizens’ Movement.

Three hundred of the 500 members of the lower house were elected by first-past-the-post, and the remainder by proportional representation. 96 of the 128 senators were elected in 32 three-member electorates based on the states; in these electorates, the winning party won two seats, and the runner-up one. The remaining 32 senators were elected by proportional representation.

In the Senate, AMLO’s coalition won 43.7% of the vote and 70 of the 128 seats, while Anaya’s coalition won 27.6% of the vote and 38 seats, and the coalition led by the PRI won 22.6% of the vote and 20 seats.  In the lower house, similar vote shares gave AMLO’s coalition 312 of the 500 seats, Anaya’s coalition 128 seats and the PRI coalition just 60 seats.

MORENA won a total of 58 of the 128 senators, and 193 of the 500 lower house members.  Labor won seven senators and 61 in the lower house.  Combined, MORENA and Labor won 65 of the 128 senators, and 254 of the 500 lower house seats.  As a result, these two parties alone will have majorities in both chambers of the legislature, and AMLO will not need votes from the Social Encounter Party.

The left’s majority in the Mexican legislature is further bolstered by the PRD and Citizens’ Movement, which were formerly led by AMLO.  These two parties won a combined 16 senate seats and 49 lower house seats.

The president and the Senate have six-year terms, while the lower house has a three-year term.