From .
Still celebrating its advance in the World Cup this week, Mexico is headed into another emotional weekend as the much anticipated presidential election gets underway.
Frontrunner Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador 鈥� or AMLO as he鈥檚 often called 鈥� has been described by those following the election closely as a leftist 鈥渇irebrand鈥� whose main antagonist may very well be U.S. President Donald Trump.
, a Mexico City bureau chief for , the public radio station in Phoenix, says that Wednesday was the last day when candidates were allowed to campaign in public.
鈥淩ight now according to the electoral law in Mexico,鈥� Cervantes says, 鈥渋t鈥檚 a moment to reflect, to meditate and to think about the elections, and so far what we know also is that the latest results from most of the polls are giving Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador the lead in votes. He is, in most of the polls, leading by 50, 51 or 45 percent, which tells us that half of Mexicans might vote for L贸pez Obrador.鈥�
Cervantes says the outcome of the vote could be historic in this election.
鈥淪ince Mexico鈥檚 going to have four candidates 鈥� one of them is an independent candidate, it鈥檚 the first time we have one 鈥� it鈥檚 also going to be three candidates that are working under political coalitions, so the fact that there is one candidate that is having 50 percent of the votes tells that the society is strongly divided, compared to other elections where they鈥檝e had very narrow differences,鈥� Cervantes says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e talking about like sometimes the leading candidate and the second place would be 30 to 35 percent each.鈥�
Whether or not he is elected, L贸pez Obrador is one of the most interesting political figures in recent years, Cervantes says.
鈥淭his is the third time that he is running for president, the first time that he is running as the candidate for Morena, a party that he founded,鈥� he says. 鈥淟贸pez Obrador has constantly been very aggressive on his posture against institutions and against politics in Mexico, or the way they鈥檝e been handled constantly. But in this election, we鈥檙e seeing a more moderate L贸pez Obrador. He鈥檚 still leading his followers by arguing that he鈥檚 going to fight corruption in the country, he is also becoming for many people in Mexico an emblem of the anti-system.鈥�
Written by Jen Rice.
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