Mexico’s Left May Be Divided Further by a New Political Party
Mexico’s Left May Be Divided Further by a New Political Party
32 MINs ago
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico's best-known leftist leader, is getting close to registering a new political party that could further fragment a divided left ahead of midterm elections.
By Juan Montes
MEXICO CITY—Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Mexico’s best-known leftist leader and an unsuccessful presidential candidate, is getting close to registering a new political party that could further fragment a divided left ahead of midterm elections.
Electoral authorities are expected to confirm in the coming weeks that Mr. López Obrador’s new party, called Movimiento Regeneración Nacional, or Morena, fulfills the requirements to register. Registration will allow the party to run candidates in 2015 midterm elections, and opens the door for Mr. López Obrador to run again for president in 2018, in what would be his third try.
The federal electoral body, or IFE, has already certified that Morena held 28 meetings across the country with the participation of at least 3,000 supporters at each, and has garnered 600,000 registered members so far, almost triple the number required by law to become a party, according to two high-ranking electoral officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The IFE will publish a report with final figures in February and, if there are no other legal obstacles, Morena will formally obtain its political license by July.
The formation of Mr. López Obrador’s party opens the possibility of several leftist candidates participating in the next presidential election, which some analysts expect will help the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party of President Enrique Peña Nieto to stay in power.
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