Dave Graham

MEXICO CITY, Reuters -Mexicans began casting their votes for six state elections Sunday. These are expected to support President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s Party in one of his last major electoral tests before the focus moves to the race to succeed him.

Lopez Obrador’s Leftist National Regeneration Movement, MORENA (MORENA), and its allies are expected to win the majority of governorships. This will strengthen the party’s hold on the political landscape in the face of a fragmented opposition.

Mexico’s 126M population is made up of Tamaulipas in Northern Mexico and Durango in Central Mexico. Aguascalientes, Hidalgo, and Aguascalientes are in the center. Oaxaca in the south, Quintana Roo, in the east, elect new governors.

All of them are currently run by the opposition. Opposition polls indicate that Durango and Aguascalientes will be left in control of the opposition parties. They are not running on one ticket against MORENA.

Julio Ruiz (52-year-old teacher) wanted MORENA’s power to grow. While he was en route to Oaxaca City, Ruiz said that “if we are all with President, we will fare better.”

Gloria Reyes (56) is a 56 year-old dish washer who walked past Santa Maria Atzompa’s polling station near Oaxaca to pray to the Immaculate Virgin Of Juquila that MORENA would win.

Javier Oliva (a national autonomous university of Mexico) is a political scientist who believes MORENA will win a majority of states and help to consolidate President Trump’s power over the party.

Oliva explained that Lopez Obrador would be able to make the decision on who is going to run in 2024.

According to polls, Lopez Obrador has been more popular than MORENA (the party Lopez Obrador used as a platform for his 2018 presidential campaign), which was overwhelming.

While he failed to fulfill his campaign promises of boosting economic growth, and substantially reducing gang-fueled violence in the face of the pandemic that has ravaged his country, his success with social welfare programs has only bolstered his popularity.

According to pollster Consulta mitofsky, Lopez Obrador’s support has dropped from 62% at April’s end to 54% by Friday.

Guadalupe Mejia is a 79 year-old Cancun voter.

Mejia indicated that education and security were her primary concerns. She also stated she wasn’t voting for MORENA.

Mexican law allows presidents to serve only one six-year term. Lopez Obrador is expected to succeed him in June 2024. Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico City and Marcelo Ebrard, Foreign Minister are both candidates.

Ebrard is seen as being more moderate and appealing to the middle-class, while Sheinbaum is seen as ideologically more aligned with Lopez Obrador.

MORENA could win four out of six of Mexico’s states and take over 20 of Mexico’s 32 regional government. Other states can be governed by MORENA-allied administrations.