Lopez Obrador profile: radical left-winger wins power in Mexico

Veteran left-winger Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is poised to become president of Mexico, after his three main rivals conceded defeat.

“An official ‘quick count’ from a national sampling of ballots showed Lopez Obrador had about 53% of the vote,” reports The Washington Post. “That put him far ahead of his main opponents, Ricardo Anaya and José Antonio Meade.”

Lopez Obrador, a former mayor of Mexico City, is an old friend of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. The pair have been described as “ideological twins”.

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What does Obrador stand for?

Known as ‘Amlo’ after his initials, Lopez Obrador has hinted that he could legalise drugs in a bid to end Mexico’s brutal war on narcotics, which has led to the deaths of thousands of people over the past decade. He also promised to tackle endemic corruption and violence within the country, after a mayoral hopeful became the third election candidate to be gunned down in a week.

During the campaign, Lopez Obrador pledged to halve his presidential salary if elected, sell-off the presidential jet and continue to live in his modest flat in Mexico City instead of the luxurious presidential palace, Los Pinos.

But while he has dialled down the populist rhetoric since he lost the last presidential election in 2012, his promise of more state ownership and help for the poor has terrified businesses, who label him central America’s equivalent to former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.

How will the US react?

The prospect of a veteran left-winger taking power has also spooked Mexico’s northern neighbour.

The Sunday Times reported before the election that Washington is “worried”, and that “win or lose, Amlo might threaten the fragile stability in the US backyard at a time when Mexican-American relations are at their most tense for many years.”

However, Donald Trump last night welcomed his victory. “I look very much forward to working with him,” the US president said on Twitter. “There is much to be done that will benefit both the United States and Mexico!”

How did Obrador’s victory unfold?

Although the official count is not yet complete, Meade, the candidate of the ruling party, was the first candidate to concede, saying he “accepted Lopez Obrador had won and wished him well”, the BBC reports.

Anaya, “who led a coalition of parties and was considered the strongest challenger to Amlo, also threw in the towel,” says CNN says, and a third challenger, Jaime Rodriguez Calderon, “also conceded defeat”.

Amlo’s win comes at the end of one of the most violent campaign periods in Mexican history, during which more than 130 candidates and party workers were killed.