July 13, 2018
Mexican general elections took place July 1st. It was a historic election due to the high number of seats on the ballot: voters elected all 500 members of the House known as the Chamber of Deputies, 128 members of the Senate, and a new president. Elected members of the legislature will be the first ever allowed to run for re-election in Mexico. Local elections also took place in 30 out of 32 Mexican states.
With over 50 percent of vote and winning majority in 31 of 32 states, candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador from the MORENA party was elected President of Mexico. He will take office on December 1st, 2018 for a term of six years. In addition, MORENA will be a majority on the Chamber of Deputies and the Mexican Senate.
Lopez Obrador met with President Enrique Peña Nieto to coordinate an orderly and smooth transition, discussing agenda priorities such as NAFTA, national security, and the energy and education reforms that took place during Peña Nieto’s administration.
A day after the election, President Trump called Lopez Obrador to congratulate him and express support to his administration. During the 30-minute conversation, they briefly shared views on immigration, national security, and the possibility of a bilateral agreement that could substitute NAFTA.
The Chamber sent Lopez Obrador a congratulatory letter reaffirming our desire and commitment to continue working together as we have with past administrations to develop and promote projects and initiatives that improve our economies such as border infrastructure and trade facilitation; workforce development and minimizing transboundary pollution.
We are also reaching out to the newly elected members of the Mexican Congress as well as the members of Lopez Obrador’s proposed cabinet to foster relationships in advance of the Chamber’s 14th delegation trip to Mexico City taking place March 31 to April 3, 2019.