MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

AMLO loses legislative majority in Mexican Lower House

AMLO hopes he will still be able to guarantee the budget for the poor

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's (AMLO) centre-left ruling National Regeneration Movement (Morena) which lost the qualified majority in the Lower House after Sunday's elections.

It fell from 332 to 281 of a total of 500 lawmakers which has placed them further away from the Constitutional reform they were so eagerly promoting, according to the quick count by the National Electoral Institute (INE), even taking into account ally deputies from the Green and Labor parties.

Meanwhile, the four main opposition parties that formed alliances in various regional and local elections increased their presence from 168 to 219.

In addition, the powerful political formation suffered its worst defeat in Mexico City, a stronghold for the national left since 1997, where it only won 6 of 16 disputed mayoralties, which means that it lost 5 municipalities. And in the capital's legislature, they lost in 12 districts and will remain with 14 of a total of 36.

This result is believed to be the consequence of the May 3 accident on line 12 of the Metro, which resulted in 26 dead and 65 injured when two trucks fell when a structure collapsed and was blamed on poor maintenance by current mayor Claudia Sheinbaum and to current Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, who was mayor when line 12 was built.

However, the results for the ruling party were bittersweet as Morena was awarded 10 of the 15 disputed governorates, which expanded its regional power, despite having lost the “jewel in the crown” that was the House of Deputies.

But one of Morena's allies, the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico (PVEM), was one of the big winners of Sunday's contest and it remains to be seen whether a growing political force wants to remain tied to one that's going down.

”We would have to make an assessment (of that alliance), said PVEM Senator Manuel Velasco, a former governor of the southern state of Chiapas. “I am convinced that the country cannot continue in this climate of social tension and division that we have had in recent times and what we need is to listen to all voices, rethink and build together,” he added.

The PVEM will quadruple its quota of seats in the Lower House, from 11 to 44, thus becoming the “object of desire” for any new future alliance, so it will become a hinge ally of any future coalition.

Two of the three new political parties failed to reach the 3% threshold to remain within the registry of political parties and will not be allowed to run again. Only the evangelical Encuentro Solidario Party (PES) cut to remain in contention for future elections.

President AMLO celebrated the results of the historic election, where there was a 52% turnout, one of the highest in recent elections were free because “unlike in other times” there was no interference from local authorities. He also downplayed his party's loss of votes and maintained that since those seats went to political allies the ruling coalition will still “have a majority to guarantee the budget for the poor.”

He also celebrated that voting went smoothly and uneventfully despite threats from organized crime groups. ”People behaved very well. Those who belong to organized crime in general well. Very few acts of violence by these groups. I think the white-collar crime behaved more badly, but they did not go overboard and did not alter basically the results,” he added.