MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Recall referendum in Mexico confirms Lopez Obrador support. although only 18% bothered to vote

They also complained about the date chosen, the start of holy week, a very special time in the Mexican calendar

Voters in Mexico overwhelmingly supported president Andres Manual Lopéz Obrador, AMLO, to finish his six-year mandate in a recall referendum, but the result in not binding since less than 20% bothered to vote and he needed the participation of 40% of the electorate. Anyhow AMLO celebrated, “I won, I'm staying”

Out of 92,8 million registered voters, in effect 15,5 million supported AMLO as he is known, while 1,3 million said no, however this represented some 18% of the electorate, according to preliminary results announced by the Electoral Institute..

A firm believer in direct democracy, the president promised in his 2018 election campaign that he would give voters the chance to kick him out of office in the second half of his term. With the leader polling at 57% in the most recent El Financiero survey, and opposition parties boycotting the vote, no one thought his presidency was in danger.

“We’re talking about nearly 14 million people voting for AMLO, which is not negligible,” said Javier Martin Reyes, a political analyst at both the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the CIDE research center in Mexico City. “But it’s very far from the 30 million votes AMLO got in 2018.”

AMLO supporters complained that the electoral institute operated a fraction of the polling booths it normally would for a national election. They also complained about the date chosen, the start of holy week, a very special time in the Mexican calendar

Despite participation not hitting the 40% needed for the vote to be binding, many observers think Lopez Obrador will use the sweeping victory as a means of pushing lawmakers to vote through laws that are expected to languish in congress.

His Morena party alliance is short of the two-thirds majority needed in each chamber to change the constitution -- meaning he needs opposition support to pass reforms on everything from electricity to the electoral system.

Likewise some analysts believe AMLO could try to change the constitution, allowing for immediate reelection, which is banned in Mexico.