Mexico leftist vows no tolerance on corruption after historic win

Lopez Obrador, who campaigned on vows to transform Mexico and oust the “mafia of power” ruling the country, rode widespread voter anger and discontent with the governing Institutional Revolution Party, or PRI, of President Enrique Pena Nieto and had led opinion polls since the beginning of the campaign.

She said she backed leftist front-runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and called him less than ideal but the “best of the bad” options.

The election came amid a backdrop of mounting tensions between Mexico and the United States, which some analysts say have pushed relations between the two countries to one of the most divisive points in recent times.

Speaking to reporters after his win, Lopez Obrador identified corruption as the “principal cause” of inequality and the criminal violence that has bedeviled Mexico for years, and said he would spare no one in his commitment to root it out.

“I reiterate my promise to not betray your confidence which millions of Mexicans have placed in me”. But Duncan also said that many people are unsure of how Lopez Obrador will be able to provide what he has promised.

Mexico’s peso led gains among emerging-market currencies as sentiment improved overnight on speculation that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the country’s next president, may seek a congenial relationship with his USA counterpart.

Trump tweeted that he looked “very much forward to working with” Obrador. “One of the United States’ creative proposals to break a logjam in negotiations on rules of origin for autos had been to require that auto parts made in Mexico come from areas with higher minimum wages”.

Amlo, who counts Jeremy Corbyn as a friend, is projected to win about 53 percent and his rivals have conceded.

The United States Border Patrol on Sunday allowed reporters to briefly visit the facility where it holds families arrested at the southern USA border, responding to questions over the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy.

It seemed Lopez Obrador wanted the team there to protect him against the crush of adoring crowds or attempts to politically embarrass him, for example, by paying someone to confront him verbally.

Talks to renegotiate the terms of the pact between the US, Mexico and Canada have been bogged down by efforts to satisfy Trump’s demands.

As Mexico City’s mayor from 2000 to 2005, Obrador was wildly popular as a political outsider of diligent, austere lifestyle.

On Tuesday Mr Lopez Obrador will meet President Enrique Peña Nieto to begin the handover process, ahead of his Dec 1 inauguration.

But Lopez Obrador’s new status may compel him to make some compromises, said Vicente Sanchez, a professor of public administration at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana. “That is what brought us to this”, she said.

In the past, Lopez Obrador has offered criticism to the shift in U.S. stance on immigration and trade.

Lopez Obrador met with Pena Nieto to discuss the transition for his taking office December 1, hoping to ensure an orderly transfer of power after a heated and polarizing campaign. The central state of Guanajuato was expected to go to a candidate of the conservative National Action Party.

With US encouragement, Mexico has gone to war against the cartels, imprisoning drug users and drug runners, incinerating opium and marijuana fields, and sending thousands of armed soldiers into the streets.

“It means that the United States can’t take Mexico for granted any more”, he said.