(My new American Thinker)
They had the Mexican version of a mid-term election south of the border. In the end, it looks like President Andres Lopez-Obrador did not get a super majority and will have to compromise to get things done.
This is from a BBC election summary:
If the results are confirmed, the president is likely to face challenges to his ambitious reform programme, which he calls the "Fourth Transformation".
Partial results show his Morena party and its allies in the Workers Party and Green Party winning between 265 and 292 of the 500 seats in the lower house, the National Electoral Institute said. That means they will fall short of the two-thirds majority needed to push through constitutional changes.
Morena itself was projected to win between 190 and 203 seats. It currently has 253.
"[The result] is a defeat for Mr López Obrador -- not overwhelming -- but it does weaken him and his project because it requires constitutional reforms," political analyst José Antonio Crespo told AFP news agency.
We will see how President Lopez-Obrador reacts to this new political reality. Will he react like President Clinton in 1995 and sit down with the other side to get something done? Or will he show his authoritarian side?
A couple of my Mexican friends were a bit relieved with the results. They had expressed concerns about one party running everything. They felt that it would be counterproductive and make an economic recovery less likely.
One friend reminded me that massive corruption was the legacy of one party rule for 60 years.
By the way, a couple of things about the Mexican election are worth noting. No party complained about voter ID. And violence was an unfortunate reality of the season, i.e. 89 candidates killed in the campaign.
P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk). If you like our posts, click send, and drop a dime here.