Mexico City – Mexico City’s left-leaning mayor is set to resign today to begin his 2006 presidential campaign, promising to alter two decades of free-market reforms by spending more government money on the poor, public works and Mexico’s national oil industry.
If Mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador were to win the July 2 election, his victory would represent another swing to the left in Latin America and away from U.S.-backed economic policies that have been controversial in the region.
Polls show that Lopez Obrador, a member of Mexico’s Democratic Revolutionary Party, leads all other possible candidates.
“He’s focusing on the working class. Half of Mexico is poor. … There are many urban poor in all cities,” said Mexico expert George Grayson of the College of William & Mary. “If he can inspire those people that’s where he is going to pull the vote.”
Since his 2000 election, President Vicente Fox’s conservative National Action Party, or PAN, has fallen sharply in popularity as Mexico continues to struggle with inequality, corruption and poor job growth.
