AMLO's party and its partners maintain a simple majority in the Chamber of Deputies
The electoral phenomenon of Morena arose with the arrival of Andrés Manuel López Obrador as President of Mexico and his control of the national parliament; three years later, they retained their simple majority in the Chamber of Deputies, but with a significant loss of seats. During the election campaign, President López Obrador was not very active, and the party has been affected by this decision and the president's decision.
Morena wins the elections in the lower house of the legislative branch, after the results of Sunday's elections across Mexico. At 11 o'clock at night the INE (National Electoral Institute), released the results, the party of the Government "Morena", won 197 seats, 20% less than in the last elections; it will have to stay within an electoral coalition with the Green Party and the Workers Party, in order to add 279 seats, (10% less than the current representation) and thus add up to reach the simple majority. The main objective and proposal of the electoral campaign could not be carried out, a constitutional reform, for which they would need a qualified majority, which they did not manage to obtain, as they fell 65 seats short of achieving this objective.
On the other hand, the opposition bloc, which competed in a historic coalition between the three traditional parties, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the National Action Party (PAN) and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), managed to increase its number of seats and take away the government's possibility of a qualified majority in the legislature, increasing its presence in the House by 40%. Citizen turnout was 52%, one of the highest in an election that does not elect the head of state. Undoubtedly, this will be the most divided and fragmented Congress in the history of Mexican democracy, with the PAN obtaining 111 deputies, the PRI 69 and the PRD only 17 seats for a total of 197 seats as an opposition bloc to AMLO's government.
The leaders of the different parties spoke out, recognising the work of the INE (National Electoral Institute), to carry out the elections in the midst of a health crisis, "my total recognition to the INE for having carried out elections at the level that Mexico demands; at the same time, I congratulate Mexicans for their active participation in these elections, they have demonstrated their enormous commitment to our country," said the president of the PRI, Alejandro Moreno. "The INE confirms the progress of Acción Nacional. We reiterate our gratitude and commitment to Mexico for a better country. Congratulations because together, the #VaPorMéxico Coalition, we took away from Morena and its allied parties the qualified majority in the Chamber of Deputies," said Marko Cortés who is the president of the PAN. Finally, the president of Morena, Mario Delgado, stood up for the ruling party: "Thank you for voting, for believing, for exercising your right, for getting rid of the mafia of corruption; today the people of Mexico said yes to transformation and no to corruption".
The elections also involved 15 governorships throughout the country, where official results have not been produced in all the states, but the tendencies are quite irreversible. The PRI currently governs in 8 of these 15 disputed governorships, so it could turn out to be the big loser on Sunday night. For the moment, Morena seems to have won in Acapulco, Ecatepec, Ciudad Juarez, Mexicali and Chilpancingo. The PAN is reportedly winning in Morelia, Puebla and Hermosillo.
Latin America Coordinator: José Antonio Sierra.