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Mexico鈥檚 election season is right around the corner and two candidates are already leading in the polls. It looks likely that leftist candidate of Mexico鈥檚 MORENA party and conservative candidate of PAN will face off in July 2018.
, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin's Department of Government, says the politics surrounding this election mirror the nationalist movement that鈥檚 going on in Europe and the U.S.
鈥淚n Mexico, people are flocking to a nationalistic perspective and thinking about how to reinforce Mexico first, 鈥� Greene says.
In particular, Greene says Zavala G贸mez del Campo is taking an outsider stance on many of issues.
鈥淎n outsider stance these days means questioning NAFTA and thinking about reorienting Mexico鈥檚 economy for domestic consumption and possibly enhancing ties to other Latin American countries,鈥� Greene says.
Despite these outsider approaches, Greene says contrary to the result of the U.S. election, it鈥檚 likely that leftist L贸pez Obrador will come out on top.
鈥淚t鈥檚 his election to lose at this point,鈥� Greene says. 鈥淭he Trump presidency is moving people toward a criticism of the U.S., criticism of NAFTA and certainly concerns over immigration. All three of those things are central to the L贸pez Obrador platform and have been for quite some time.鈥�
Greene says that support of Mexico鈥檚 leftist candidate may have larger-scale implications about the spread of nationalism and its counter-movement.
鈥淚t鈥檚 possible that what we鈥檙e seeing now is the rise of right-wing populism in immigration-receiving countries and a rise of leftwing populism possibly in immigrant-sending countries,鈥� Green says.
Written by Morgan O鈥橦anlon.
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