AMLO is supported: the people confirmed him as President of Mexico

The Mexican people decided on Sunday that Andrés Manuel López Obrador must continue to be its president, as a result of the referendum to revoke his mandate, promoted by AMLO himself, and viewed with fear by those who could be knocked out of the game in the future by not counting with the approval of the majority halfway of AMLO’s term.

The referendum on the permanence in power of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador ended on Sunday in most of Mexico, where this unprecedented exercise anticipated a boost to the leftist president, a consultation that did not achieve the necessary 40%, a fact that had to do with the poor job done by the National Electoral Institute (INE).

The INE, an autonomous entity, alleged lack of resources to only enable a third of the polling stations necessary for the consultation, which hindered the transfer of a large part of the rural population to the voting centers, while the opposition called to abstention and the media ignored and avoided publicity in relation to the important event.

According to the INE fast count, between 90,3% and 91,6% of voters voted in favor of Lopez Obrador remains in power, against the 6,4% and 7,8% voters who supported revoking him for lack of trust. The turnout ranged between 17% and 18,2%.

“The people are grateful for his involvement in favor of those in need,” said Mario Delgado, leader of the pro-government party Morena, and highlighted that the nearly 15 million votes supporting him are really important for the president.

Delgado also stated that only “unbreakable and indomitable Democrat,” like AMLO, can “submit himself to a referendum.” And he pointed out that the results of the first consultation of this kind in Mexico should serve "to initiate an urgent process of electoral reform," in which the INE councilors are "elected so that they are owed to the people and are accountable to them," in addition to “end the waste of resources by political parties” and “that there are no multi-members that distort the meaning of democracy.”

AMLO, 68 years old and with an approval of 58%, according to survey reports by the firm Oráculos, was elected in 2018 for a period of six years with 30 million votes.

"Let no one forget that the people are in charge, the people provide and the people take away," López Obrador told the press after leaving the polling station. He nullified his ballot by writing "Viva Zapata!" (by revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata) to appear impartial.

The president promoted the consultation after pushing for its inclusion in the 2019 Constitution as an antidote against "bad governments."

“It will help no one, at any level, feels above the law,” added the President, elected for the 2018-2024 period.

Torpedoing

The INE, falsely alleging a lack of material resources, only installed 57,000 polling stations out of the 160,000-plus located in the most recent election (July 2021), and was slow in calling the more than 90 million Mexicans older than 18 years, jeopardizing the minimum participation of 40% for the query to be valid.

The truth is that the INE is an entity that did everything possible to hinder the referendum, and so was regarded by the political parties in power: the Labor Party (PT), the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) and the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM).

The spark of INE unease, hatred, against AMLO has been the inclusion in the Constitution that executives at this level must accept salary reductions, as the president himself has done. AMLO has proven that Mexican elections of any kind are the most expensive of the world.

The justification for not installing more polling stations was argued by the INE directors as they claimed they did not receive enough resources. At the same time, those same INE executives, in their capacity as an autonomous entity of the Mexican State, have refused to reduce their salaries and privileges as ordered by the Constitution and the president did.

This situation has aggravated INE credibility while taking a leading role in the opposition to the federal government. Directly or indirectly, INE joined the campaign of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), National Action Party (PAN) and Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), against citizen participation in the referendum.

It is clear that the opposition parties have launched a series of media, political and social campaigns against the president and the parties that support him to delegitimize his government. But even when they could confront the situation, they rather called for abstention, trusting the obstacles created by the INE to thwart citizen participation from reaching 40%.

In other words, what is actually happening in the Mexican political context right now is that the opposition gathers a minority of the population (just over 20 million people) and they know their chances to win are low against popular sectors and progressive media.

It is not idle talk or propaganda, nor taking sides without justification, but fact is that the Mexican people know the government in place is doing its best for them, benefiting them with social and economic programs, that have been a relief in the midst of the crisis inherited from the neoliberal regime, due to the global pandemic and today intensified by the economic collateral effects of the conflict in Ukraine that has given way to the rise in food and energy prices.

Translated by Sergio A. Paneque Díaz / CubaSí Translation Staff