Mexico president upbeat despite election setback
- Dozens of politicians were murdered in the months leading up to the polls for the lower house, 15 of 32 state governors and thousands of local politicians.
MEXICO CITY: Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Monday his ruling coalition was on course to retain its control of the lower house, despite a setback in legislative elections he called "free and fair."
Initial results indicated that Lopez Obrador's Morena party lost the absolute majority it held in the lower house of Congress, complicating his promised "transformation" of the country.
But he struck an upbeat tone, noting that together with its political partners, Morena was still projected to hold more than half the seats.
"I'm very grateful because as a result of this election, the parties that are sympathetic to the transformation project that is under way will have a majority in the Chamber of Deputies," he told reporters.
The vote was seen as a referendum on Lopez Obrador's more than two years in office overshadowed by the coronavirus pandemic and cartel-related violence.
A quick initial vote count suggested Lopez Obrador's Morena party alone was set to take between 190 and 203 of the 500 seats in the lower house, the National Electoral Institute said.
Dozens of politicians were murdered in the months leading up to the polls for the lower house, 15 of 32 state governors and thousands of local politicians.
On the eve of the elections, gunmen killed five people helping to organize voting in the southern state of Chiapas, while two human heads were left at polling stations in the border city of Tijuana on election day.
After the vote finished, four more people were shot dead in Chiapas in an apparent dispute between rival political camps competing for the position of local mayor, the authorities said.