© KEYSTONE / EPA / Sashenka Gutierrez
Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador will stay in power after Sunday’s referendum in which Mexicans largely endorsed his continued term. However, turnout was very low, with a rate of between 17 and 18.2%.
In total, more than 90% of voters wanted the left-wing president to go until the end of his single six-year term in 2024, according to initial estimates from the national electoral institute (INE).
The president’s party movement for national regeneration (Morena) hailed “a sharp result in favor of our president”. “People have recognized his commitment to those who need it most, the enormous moral authority with which he governs,” said one of Morena’s bosses, Mario Delgado.
Boycott of the opposition
Three opposition parties had called for abstention (PAN, on the right, PRD on the left and the former state party of the PRI). The PAN referred to a popular consultation marked “by illegality, lies and misappropriation of public resources”.
The PRI accused Morena of turning the referendum into a “joke” to “satisfy his own ego”, according to one of its Twitter handlers, Alejandro Moreno.
Elected for six years in 2018, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, 68, wanted to give the people the right to revoke his single mandate before the deadline of 2024, on the model of other Latin American countries like Venezuela.