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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | June 2006 
Mexico Leftist Ahead in Presidential Race: Poll
 Reuters
| | Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (L), the presidential candidate of Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), waves to supporters during a rally in Queretaro, Mexico, June 21, 2006. (Daniel Aguilar/Reuters) |
Mexican leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had a five-point lead in an opinion poll on Thursday, the latest survey showing him pulling away from his conservative rival for a presidential election on July 2.
The poll in Milenio newspaper gave Lopez Obrador, the former mayor of Mexico City, 35 percent support, ahead of former energy minister Felipe Calderon on 30 percent. The leftist's lead was three points in the previous Milenio poll on June 13.
Most polls now show Lopez Obrador, who promises to give priority to Mexico's poor, leading in the final phase of campaigning but some still have Calderon ahead.
Sensing he might be near victory. Lopez Obrador has tried this week to calm nerves, denying conservative claims he will overspend on welfare programs and take Mexico back to the days of economic crisis in the 1980s and 90s.
"How am I going to fulfill my promise to improve families' incomes by 20 percent?" he said in a television advert on Wednesday night. "Above all I tell you that I will not get the country into debt or raise taxes. It's not necessary."
The leftist has been favorite for most of the last three years to succeed President Vicente Fox but he fell behind Calderon in April and May after the conservative launched media spots accusing him of being a dangerous populist.
Calderon has slipped back after allegations that his brother-in-law avoided paying taxes and won elusive government contracts when the candidate was in Fox's cabinet.
Most of the polls that show Calderon on top nevertheless have his lead diminishing, including a survey by U.S. firm Zogby International this week.
Roberto Madrazo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ran Mexico for 71 years until 2000, was in third place on 29.6 percent in Thursday's poll.
The PRI will win more votes for Congressional elections on July 2 than Calderon's National Action Party and Lopez Obrador's Party of the Democratic Revolution, the poll said.
Thirty-two percent of those interviewed said the leftist would do a better job fighting poverty compared to 18 percent for Calderon. Lopez Obrador was also seen as more likely to create jobs than his opponent.
The survey was taken between June 16-20 among 2,000 people and had a maximum margin of error of 2.2 percentage points. |
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