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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | July 2005 
Mexican Leftist's Lead Cut In Presidential Race
 Reuters
| | Mexican supporters from Yucatan of Felipe Calderon, of the National Action Party (PAN), attend a ceremony in Mexico City, Mexico, Sunday July 10, 2005. Calderon plans to run in Mexico's 2006 presidential election. |
Mexico City – The left-wing front-runner for Mexico's presidential elections next year has seen his lead cut sharply since the government dropped criminal charges against him, a new opinion poll showed Monday.
The poll conducted by El Universal newspaper showed Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the mayor of Mexico City, with 32 percent support, a drop of 6 percentage points since April.
His nearest rival, Roberto Madrazo of the main opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, had 24 percent.
Former Interior Minister Santiago Creel, a conservative and a close ally of President Vicente Fox, was third with 21 percent.
The mayor was unfazed by the setback. "We are fine and doing well," he told reporters Monday.
All three of the main hopefuls for the July 2006 elections have lost support to minor candidates in recent months, but Lopez Obrador suffered the biggest decline since April with his lead dropping to 8 percentage points from 13.
The mayor is popular in Mexico City for giving pensions to old people and launching ambitious public works programs, although many business leaders fear he would be a big spending president and would put Mexico's economic stability at risk.
His popularity hit a high when the government was trying to put him on trial for minor charges in a city land dispute that could have forced him out of the elections.
Fox finally backed down and dropped the charges in April, defusing a political crisis that had bought turmoil to Mexico's financial markets.
Lopez Obrador is expected to easily win the presidential nomination of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution. Both Madrazo and Creel face tougher fights for the nomination of their parties.
El Universal's poll showed Madrazo's PRI came out slightly ahead when voters were asked which party they support rather than which candidate.
The PRI ruled Mexico for seven decades before being ousted by Fox in 2000, but it is still the biggest party in Congress and has a strong grass-roots presence across the country.
The poll was carried out in late June and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points. |
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