ASSESSMENTS

Mexico's President-Elect Works to Solidify Power

Aug 30, 2018 | 12:00 GMT

Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during a press conference to announce Marcelo Ebrard's appointment as foreign minister on July 5 in Mexico City.

Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador speaks during a press conference to announce Marcelo Ebrard's appointment as foreign minister on July 5 in Mexico City. As he assumes power, Lopez Obrador's first task will be to consolidate his power.

(MANUEL VELASQUEZ/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • After coming to power on Dec. 1, the new Mexican government's main domestic aim will be to cement its dominance of Mexico's political system.
  • To continue attracting voters at the polls, the government will enact popular policies such as anti-corruption measures and greater social spending, while also expanding control over key political networks at labor unions to maximize the number of votes it can count on at election time.
  • Mexico's new administration will also mull more ideologically motivated policies to roll back energy reforms by tightening the government's control over upstream resources.

With a transfer of government just over the horizon, Mexico's domestic political scene is in for some monumental changes. On Dec. 1, power will pass to President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his political alliance. The coalition, led by the National Regeneration Movement (Morena), has never previously held the presidency but now controls it, as well as both houses of Congress. Despite the presence of ideologues within the incoming coalition, it will first focus its considerable resources on the more mundane task of cementing its power as the foremost political force in Mexico. But such outsized domestic power will ultimately give the new government a chance to turn its attention to matters of ideological interest -- and that could create difficulties for some investors, especially in the energy sector. In its quest to remake Mexico, the Lopez Obrador government may accordingly consider action that hurts the private sector as it...

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