Mexico’s Leftists Won Big. Investors Are Worried.
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and ALEXANDER BURNS
MEXICO CITY — The leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador won Mexico’s presidential election on Sunday, a victory that could upend the country’s economic policies and shift its foreign relations, particularly with the United States.
Mr. Lopez Obrador, a former mayor of Mexico City, won 53.2 percent of the vote, according to preliminary results, with his closest rival, Ricardo Anaya, of the conservative National Action Party, trailing with 22.2 percent.
The election was a rebuke to the political establishment, which has been plagued by corruption scandals and has struggled to address the country’s deep-seated economic and social problems.
Mr. Lopez Obrador, 64, has promised to root out corruption, reduce violence and lift millions of Mexicans out of poverty. But his victory has left investors and some analysts worried about the future of the country’s economy, which has been growing at a sluggish pace.
Mr. Lopez Obrador has vowed to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he has called a “disaster,” and to review the contracts of state oil company Pemex, which he has accused of being riddled with corruption.
He has also pledged to build a new airport for Mexico City, a project that has been stalled for years, and to cancel a $13 billion airport project that was underway.
“The markets are going to be very nervous,” said Federico Santos, a political analyst at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching in Mexico City. “The question is, how much of his program is he going to be able to implement?”
Mr. Lopez Obrador has said he will not nationalize Pemex, but he has vowed to review the contracts of private companies that have been awarded exploration and production rights in the country’s oil fields.
He has also said he will not cancel the contracts outright, but will instead renegotiate them to ensure that the government gets a larger share of the profits.