AMLO fell well short

Mexico’s López Obrador loses some of his "Teflon" in midterm elections. Mexico's ruling political coalition is projected to lose its qualified majority in the lower house of Congress after a poor showing in midterm elections Sunday, according to initial figures released by the government. 

López Obrador's left-leaning political party, Morena, won about 35% of the vote. Morena and its governing partner, Partido Verde, are expected to win between 265 and 292 of the 500 seats in the lower house, according to preliminary figures from the National Electoral Institute (INE). 

 

López Obrador’s opponents framed the vote as one of the most important in recent Mexican history. They fear he wants to steer this country - the No. 1 U.S. trading partner - back toward the kind of one-party authoritarian system that prevailed for most of the 20th century. Critics compare the Mexican leader to populists such as Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and Salvadoran leader Nayib Bukele, who have demonized adversaries and rebuffed challenges to their authority by the judiciary.

Senators are not up for reelection this year. Still, the vote could wind up scrambling political alliances. 

Opponents worried the president could win enough support to push through amendments to reverse free-market overhauls of the energy sector and weaken autonomous institutions created to strengthen Mexico’s democracy. 

The president’s National Regeneration Movement, or Morena, and its two allied parties won between 265 and 292 seats in the 500-seat lower house, with 85% of votes counted by the country’s election agency. 

Sunday's elections were the largest in Mexico's history. More than 93 million registered voters chose candidates from 21,000 elected posts in all three levels of government. Nationwide participation was estimated between 51.7% and 52.5%, the INE said.

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