Tag: MORENA

Two IAF Aircraft Crash During Training Exercise in Madhya Pradesh

The IAF said in a tweet that one of the pilots had “sustained fatal injuries”.

New Delhi: Two Indian Air Force fighter jets – a Sukhoi Su-30 and a Mirage 2000 – crashed in Madhya Pradesh during a training exercise at 5:30 am on Saturday (January 28).

The Su-30 had two pilots while Mirage 2000 had one pilot, NDTV reported. The IAF said in a tweet that one of the pilots had “sustained fatal injuries”.

Local police found out about the crash at around 10 am on Saturday morning, ANI reported. According to PTI, one aircraft fell in Morena in Madhya Pradesh and the other went down in the general area around Bharatpur, Rajasthan.

According to the Indian Express, initial reports suggest the crash was due to a mid-air collision, but there has been no confirmation on this yet. Defence minister Rajnath Singh was reportedly briefed on the crash by IAF chief Air Chief Marshal V.R. Chaudhari.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said in a tweet, “The news of the crash of Sukhoi-30 and Mirage-2000 aircraft of the Air Force near Kolaras in Morena is very sad. I have instructed the local administration to cooperate with the Air Force in quick rescue and relief work. I pray to God that the pilots of the planes are safe.”

MP Civic Polls: BJP Loses Key Strongholds After Decades, Including Ministers’ Home Turf

BJP lost the Gwalior municipal polls for the first time in 57 years. It lost Morena to Congress for the first time since the formation of the corporation.

Bhopal: In 2020, 15 MLAs of the Gwalior-Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh rebelled against the Kamal Nath-led Congress government and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party along with Jyotiraditya Scindia. In 2022, BJP lost the Gwalior municipal polls by a margin of 28,000 votes to the Congress – for the first time in 57 years.

Just two days before this loss, BJP lost the Morena Municipal Corporation (MMC) to Congress – for the first time since the formation of the corporation. Congress’s Morena mayoral candidate, Sharda Solanki, defeated BJP’s Meena Jatav by 14,684 votes. Of the 47 wards of the MMC, Congress won 19, BJP got 15, Bahujan Samaj Party eight, with one seat each for Aam Aadmi Party and Samajwadi Party and three Independents.

On July 17, when the State Election Commission declared the results of first phase, Congress mayoral candidate from Gwalior, Shobha Sikharwar won against BJP’s Suman Sharma by 28,805 votes. Of 66 wards in Gwalior, BJP won on 34, Congress on 25 and seven others.

In Bhind district, which was dominated by the BJP in 2014 civic polls, Congress took a massive lead, winning Bhind, Lahar and Gohad municipalities. In Lahar, which is a constituency of leader of opposition Govind Singh, Congress swept all seats.

Apart from Gwalior and Morena, BJP lost its mayoral seat in Jabalpur, Chhindwara and Rewa after almost two decades. The saffron party struggled at Ujjain and Burhanpur too – retaining them with a narrow margin of 542 and 736 votes respectively. The vote margin of BJP’s candidate in Ujjain increased only after recounting. In Burhanpur, the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen candidate securing over 10,000 votes is believed to have damaged the chances of the Congress’s Muslim candidate.

The Congress victory in Gwalior Chambal region just 15 months before the assembly polls came as a surprise to many as heavyweight leaders of BJP are from the region.

Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar who hails from Morena is also a member of parliament from here. Besides Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, state home minister Narottam Mishra, BJP state president V.D. Sharma, power minister Praduman Singh Tomar and former higher education Minister and Bajrang Dal’s former national president Jaibhan Singh Pawaiya are from the region.

When Scindia joined BJP in 2020, the party had claimed that Gwalior-Chambal would be “Congress-mukt” (‘Congress-free’) because the party had no other face to match Scindia’s popularity.

File image: BJP president J.P. Nadda welcomes Jyotiraditya Scindia into the party. Photo: PTI

This does not look as easy as the BJP could have hoped. In the October 2020 by-polls which took place after Scindia’s exit, BJP fared well in 19 of 28 seats but suffered losses in the Gwalior-Chambal region losing seven seats, including three ministers. The BJP had a narrow win in Bhander seat of Datia assembly, where its nominee Raksha Santram Saronia defeated popular Dalit leader Phool Singh Baraiya by a margin of 161 votes.

Speaking to The Wire over BJP’s defeat in the region, senior journalist from Gwalior, Dev Shirmali, pointed out, “Anti-incumbency against BJP has been prevalent in the region since the 2018 assembly elections. Even though BJP took Congress MLAs in its fold with Scindia, it lost seven seats in the by-polls.”

Listing out the reasons behind BJP’s defeat, he continued, “The factionalism which was prevalent in the Congress shifted to the BJP with Scindia after he joined the party. With Scindia’s exit, Congress leaders felt independent and started strengthening their roots.”

This is the worst performance of the BJP – considered to be a party with a strong urban base – in the past two decades, since the direct mayoral elections were introduced in Madhya Pradesh in 1999. But the saffron party retained its base in its stronghold Malwa-Nimar and central Madhya Pradesh (mainly Bhopal) regions winning Indore, Ratlam, Khandwa, Burhanpur, Sagar, Satna and Bhopal. In all these places, its victory margin shrank.

According to party sources, both Tomar and Scindia had played a prominent role in selection of candidates and canvassed for them. Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan also held road shows with both mayoral candidates and addressed public meetings to drum up support.

Sources further say that defeated mayoral candidates Suman Sharma and Meena Jatav were projected by Tomar. Scindia reportedly wanted the Gwalior mayoral ticket for his maternal aunt and former minister Maya Singh, but was turned down by the party. To compensate, the party accommodated many Scindia followers by giving corporators’ tickets.

“What turned fatal for the BJP in the region is the recently introduced Agnipath scheme for recruitment in armed forces,” said Mali.

“Youths of Gwalior-Chambal region apply for the armed forces in large numbers. Gwalior and its nearby districts had seen violent protests,” he added.

Overall results 

The BJP which held all 16 Moyrol seats in 2014, lost five to the Congress, one to AAP and in Katni, a rebel BJP candidate emerged victorious by defeating the BJP’s official party candidate by a margin of over 5,000 votes.

Meanwhile, the opposition Congress, flailing after losing its government to BJP in 2020 and through consequent losses in by-elections, has got a major boost with five mayoral posts – its best tally since 1999. While its Gwalior victory comes after 57 years, it won Jabalpur, Chhindwara, Rewa and Morena after almost two decades.

Also read: How Vikram Singh Ahke, a Gond Tribal and Labourer, Became MP’s Youngest Mayor

In 2014-15, Congress had emerged empty handed in the mayoral elections. In 1999 and 2004, it won two seats each while in the 2009 polls, it had managed to secure three mayoral seats.

AAP and AIMIM both made significant debuts in Madhya Pradesh politics with these civic polls. AAP snatched the Singrauli mayoral seat from the BJP and won 40 wards across the state while the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM won seven wards including three in Khargone city, which recently saw communal violence and administration-led demolitions.

In Khargone’s Ward 2, the ward worst hit by the violence, AIMIM’s Aruna Upadhyay won with a margin of 31 votes, defeating BJP’s Shilpa Soni.

AIMIM’s Aruna Upadhyay, who won from Khargone’s Ward 2. Photo: Video screengrab from Twitter/@KashifKakvi

Interestingly, in 56 wards, candidates lost by just one vote – 19 such candidates are from BJP, 21 from Congress and 15 independents.

Civic bodies Number of wards BJP Congress Other parties
16 corporations 884 491 274 109
76 municipalities 1,795 975 571 249
225 councils 3,828 2,002 1,087 739

The above figures put BJP in a comfortable position in electing chairperson and establishing its majority in close to 11 of the 16 corporations, 50 out of 76 municipalities and another 150 out of the 215 councils.

A shocking loss to the BJP came from Katni where its own rebel Preeti Suri contested the mayoral seat independently and defeated BJP’s Jyoti Dixit by 52,87 votes. After Suri announced that she would contest the mayoral seat, the disciplinary committee of the party suspended her for six years.

After the results, state Congress president, Kamal Nath held a press conference at the party office in Bhopal and said, “Since 1999 when the mayors have been directly elected in MP, this year the performance of Congress has been the best.”

Kamal Nath and other leaders at a Congress press conference after a part of the civic poll results were announced. Photo: By arrangement

“It has been this year that the Congress has won five seats. The BJP had won all seats in 2014 but has lost seven seats this year and yet they are celebrating. BJP appears to be celebrating a birth in a different family,” said Nath.

Hitting back at the Congress, the BJP state president Vishnu Dutt Sharma claimed the party won over 80% of the urban bodies. Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the party will form councils even in the municipal corporations where the party’s mayoral candidates have lost.

Kashif Kakvi is a journalist with Newsclick.

Madhya Pradesh Hooch Tragedy: Toll Reaches 24; Govt Probe Panel in Morena

Under severe backlash from across the state, the Madhya Pradesh government suspended a number of officials as well as transferred Morena’s collector and superintendent of police.

Bhopal/Morena: With the death of four more people, the toll in the hooch tragedy in Madhya Pradesh’s Morena district has gone up to 24, a senior police official said on Thursday.

Besides, 15 people are currently undergoing treatment in different government hospitals in Morena and Gwalior after consuming spurious liquor, deputy inspector general, Chambal Range, Rajesh Hingankar told PTI.

“The death toll is 24 now as four more persons died after consuming spurious liquor,” he said.

Some residents of Manpur and Pahawali villages in Morena consumed a white-coloured liquor on Monday night.

Later, people in some other nearby villages also fell ill after consuming spurious liquor, police had said.

A three-member team headed by additional chief secretary Rajesh Rajora reached Manpur village on Thursday to conduct a probe into the incident.

Also read: Nine Words That Can Reduce the Deadly Toll of Liquor Tragedies

The other members of the committee are the additional director general of police (CID) A Sai Manohar and deputy inspector general Mithilesh Shukla.

The state government has removed the entire staff of Bagchini police station on charges of negligence in duty, an official said.

Morena’s sub-divisional officer of police Sujit Bhadira has also been suspended by the government, he said.

The government on Wednesday transferred Morena’s collector and superintendent of police.

B. Karthikeyan has now been appointed as the new collector of Morena and Sunil Kumar Pande will be the district’s new SP, the official said.

Police have registered a case against seven people in connection with the incident on the charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder and under the Excise Act, and declared a reward of Rs 10,000 each for their arrest, an official earlier said.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday termed the incident as “painful” and said a campaign should be launched against illegal liquor sales in the state.

 

Madhya Pradesh: 26,000 Quarantined After 10 Feast Attendees Contract COVID-19

The man, who worked as a waiter at a hotel in Dubai, returned to Morena from Dubai on March 17.

Morena: Days after 10 people tested positive for coronavirus after attending a funeral feast organised by a man on his return here in Madhya Pradesh from Dubai, over 26,000 of their contacts and family members have been placed under home quarantine, officials said on Sunday.

The man, who worked as a waiter at a hotel in Dubai, returned to Morena from Dubai on March 17 after getting information about his mother’s death, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) R.S. Bakna said.

“He organised a customary feast on March 20 to mark the 13th day of mourning after his mother’s death,” he said.

The man initially hid his travel history, but revealed it after he and his wife tested positive for coronavirus on April 2, Chief Medical and Health Officer R.C. Bandil said.

The couple came to a hospital on March 27 after their condition deteriorated. Since doctors suspected coronavirus, the couple was immediately sent to an isolation ward and their samples were taken which came out positive following which the man revealed his travel history, he said.

Also Read: In Madhya Pradesh, Not All Migrant Labourers Walking Back Reach Home

On April 3, 10 more people who came in contact with the couple tested positive for the deadly viral infection, alarming the district administration.

The authorities later came to know that 1,000 to 1,200 people attended the feast organised at the man’s residence.

“This caused the spread of infection. The administration has sealed the entire ward no.47, where the man resides,” Bakna said.

According to Bandil, a total of 27,881 people have been home quarantined in the district so far. “Nearly 26,000 of these people are those who attended the feast, their family members and contacts,” he said.

As many as 24 people have been admitted to the district hospital after their screening during contact tracing of these patients, he said.

People from other areas who attended the feast have also been identified and home quarantined and their health is being monitored by doctors, the official added.

Mexico’s Presidential Election Is a Victory for Democracy

López Obrado has won a landslide victory in Mexico’s presidential elections stirring hope for change among the people, he stands to form the country’s first left-wing government for generations.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, popularly known as AMLO, has won a landslide victory in Mexico’s presidential elections. He now stands poised to form the country’s first left-wing government for generations, and his triumph has stirred great hope – but it comes with enormous challenges.

While AMLO won’t take office until December 1, he has already established a transition team to start addressing corruption, violence and inequality – the scourges of Mexico’s long and unfinished journey to full democracy. This includes the grave human rights crisis of the past ten years, which has seen more than 200,000 killed and 35,000 disappear. It’s a tall order. Then again, he and his party have already achieved something remarkable by Mexico’s standards: trouncing the political establishment in a vote that seems to have been essentially clean.

There were understandable concerns that the vote, in which an electorate of 90 million voted for thousands of federal, state and municipal candidates, would be manipulated to keep AMLO and his relatively new party, MORENA, out of office. In the run-up to the vote, more than 130 political candidates were murdered across the country in regions affected by high levels of violence and many journalists were attacked.

Mexico’s fraudulent elections, administered by weak electoral authorities, have frequently seen the country’s dominant economic interests and political parties freely bribe, coerce and manipulate voters. Many political parties have resorted to such tactics, particularly in poorer neighbourhoods highly dependent on the authorities. And the mainstream media, closely allied to dominant political interests, has also frequently played a key role in shaping the political narrative in favour of the status quo.

These practices have frequently subverted the political process, denying authentic popular democratic sovereignty and undermining any remaining trust in the political system. Before the vote, it seemed they would be deployed once again to stop a popular left-wing candidate who clearly threatened the status quo. That prospect demanded an intensive monitoring effort – and plenty of people rose to the task.

Determination wins the day

A range of academics and citizen activists in Mexico and abroad duly formed a network to scrutinise the electoral process. The Red Universitaria y Ciudadana por la Democracia (RUCD) brought together 200 Mexicans and 100 international delegates to monitor the voting and other civic networks also formed to carry out election monitoring on an unprecedented scale. I myself joined a 25-strong UK delegation of academics, trade unionists and activists from the London-based NGO Mexico Justice Now. The delegates formed 11 small groups with Mexico-based monitors travelling around the states surrounding Mexico City to monitor the elections as officially recognised observers.

This act of civil society scrutiny and international solidarity added an important preventive dimension to the election process and also focused attention on the risks of fraudulent practices undermining the result.

Over the course of polling day, observers witnessed a range of troubling irregularities that demonstrated just how fragile the electoral process is, particularly in the poorest neighbourhoods, many of which are susceptible to the power of political parties and criminal networks. Yet as the day progressed, it became clear that people were determined to vote.

In the end, turnout was the highest of the democratic era. The patience of citizens determined to exercise their political rights and demand change from their political authorities was palpable and inspiring.

As the ballots closed, the observation groups monitored the initial count at diverse polling stations, watching votes pile up for AMLO and MORENA even in some of the wealthier neighbourhoods of Mexico City. By early evening, the PRI and PAN candidates had little choice but to concede. Late in the night, AMLO held his victory celebrations in Mexico’s central square to a huge crowd, euphoric at the possibility of a new dawn and an end to the old political system.

The ConversationAMLO’s task now is to do better than previous transition governments, which have struggled to move beyond their empty rhetorical commitments. The problems are obvious: Trump next door, trade policy in chaos, a sluggish domestic economy, and multiple violent actors determined to pursue their interests at any costs. But the hunger for change manifested at the polls provides a vital impetus for the government as it begins to overcome Mexico’s vested interests and democratic deficits, and tries to set an example for the rest of the Americas.

Rupert Knox, PhD Candidate, Department of Hispanic Studies, University of Sheffield

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The Firebrand Mexican Leftist Who Provokes the Powers That Be – Including Donald Trump

Can Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the long-time left-wing rabble rouser of Mexican Politics, finally win the presidency?

Can Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the long-time left-wing rabble rouser of Mexican politics, finally win the presidency?

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), right, with Delfina Gomez of his MORENA party. Gómez narrowly lost the Mexico State governor’s race on June 4 but gave her party a boost for the presidency. Credit: Reuters/Carlos Jasso

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO), right, with Delfina Gomez of his MORENA party. Gómez narrowly lost the Mexico State governor’s race on June 4 but gave her party a boost for the presidency. Credit: Reuters/Carlos Jasso

With its 17 million people, Mexico State, which encompasses the outer suburbs of sprawling Mexico City, tends to have an impact in national elections that goes far beyond its borders.

The behemoth central state, which accounts for some 14% of Mexico’s population, commands significant resources and is President Enrique Peña Nieto’s political bastion.

All eyes were on it during the June 4 gubernatorial elections, which pitted the upstart left-wing party MORENA, founded by Andrés Manuel López Obrador (“AMLO”), the firebrand former governor of Mexico City and two-time presidential candidate, against Peña Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

In the end, MORENA’s Delfina Gómez, came within three percentage points of her opponent, Alfredo del Mazo, but failed to break the PRI’s stronghold. The narrow result, which MORENA immediately contested, sets the stage for a tumultuous 2018 presidential election.

Elections AMLO lost

Though the PRI won the gubernatorial election, it faced fierce competition this time around. The crowded field included political heavy hitters such as Josefina Vázquez Mota, of the centre-right National Action Party (which won the presidency in 2000, bringing Mexico its first-ever non-PRI government). And Juan Zepeda from the Revolutionary Democratic Party, a centre-left party born in the 1980s as a splinter of the PRI. There were also several independent and minor-party candidates.

Surveys had long predicted a two-way race between Gómez, a former teacher and mayor of the city of Texcoco, and del Mazo. The tight margin of victory – and López Obrador’s subsequent cries of fraud – will amplify the stories of malfeasance that plagued the last weeks of the campaign.

Among alleged scandals, Vázquez Mota’s family was accused of financial fraud, Gómez was said to have demanded payment from former staffers to benefit a local party boss and even Obrador’s closest circle was alleged to be involved in an illicit transfer of funds.

Josefina Vázquez Mota, here with former president Felipe Calderón on the campaign trail, was accused of fraud. Credits: Ginnette Riquelme/Reuters

All these accusations, and the illegal behaviour that may or may not underlie them, diminish Mexicans’ trust in elections and divide the electorate between winners and losers, accusers and accused.

Still a winner, of sorts

López Obrador, a practiced populist, is talented in making lemonade out of lemons. He may well be able to capitalise on Gómez’s defeat by repeating a local version of the national scandal he orchestrated after his own presidential defeat in 2006.

To some, that months-long protest polarised public opinion and confirmed that he posed a danger to Mexico’s democracy, as PAN leadership then claimed. But, among his base, it garnered him wild support.

Obrador will surely be running for president again in 2018 in his third attempt to capture the office. And Delfina Gómez’s strong finish shows that MORENA is a force to be reckoned with.

Currently, surveys give Obrador the best chance of winning the 2018 election. When compared to any other possible candidate that pollsters can think of, including ex-president Felipe Calderón’s wife and some high-ranking PRI officials, he comes out at least 5% ahead.

But he has been in this favourable position before and still narrowly lost two presidential elections (2006 and 2012). If elected, Obrador has promised to end corruption and to govern for the poor and underserved.

In a country with the poverty rate of 46% and average trust in government of 5.1 on a scale of 10, such changes would be welcome.

Other policy proposals are tougher. Obrador has also suggested referenda on recent decisions legalising marriage equality and adoption by same-sex couples, and wants to raise the minimum wage and retirement pensions without raising taxes or increasing the deficit.

He also plans to hold a referendum to potentially roll back recent energy reforms that allowed private investors into the oil market, which had been state-run since the 1930s.

Such promises have fueled comparisons between AMLO and the late president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez. And this makes markets – and many Mexicans – jittery.

AMLO v Trump

Obrador’s rise has always come with rabble-rousing, both after he lost the 1994 Tabasco governor’s race and when demanding reparations for environmental damage caused by oil spills on indigenous lands.

At a 2006 campaign event, he repeatedly said to then-president Vicente Fox (PAN) to “¡Cállate chachalaca!” (Shut up, you cawing bird!). This elicited laughter from the crowd but dismayed more serious observers. It also led the PAN to first liken Obrador to Hugo Chávez..

Ultimately, Obrador lost to the PAN’s Felipe Calderón by less than 0.5%, about 250,000 votes. He called on his supporters to protest the results, for weeks blockaded Reforma Avenue, one of Mexico City’s main thoroughfares, and, eventually began calling himself the “legitimate president of Mexico”.

But current events and political strategy have conspired to tame AMLO’s fire. His response to losing to Enrique Peña Nieto in 2012, this time by more than 6%, was much less angry.

More recently, the rise and eventual election of US President Donald Trump, with his anti-Mexico rhetoric, served to boost Obrador’s prospects, as he has been riding the rising tide of Mexican nationalism.

Touring the US in Februray 2017, he defended Mexican immigrants and proposed to reduce the northward flow by improving living standards in Mexico after “three decades of neo-liberal governments”.

But the firebrand, anti-establishment AMLO must also tread carefully to avoid any comparisons with the firebrand, anti-establishment Trump, who has become odious to Mexicans.

This may have inspired his shifting position on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which Trump has threatened to repeal. In 2006, AMLO promised to restore import tariffs on American corn and beans. Now he says he will wait to take a position on NAFTA after winning the election.

In Washington, the prospect of an AMLO victory next year seems to have sped up NAFTA negotiations. The Trump administration knows what Peña Nieto wants in a trade deal; who knows what AMLO thinks?

An uncertain economy?

Some financial analysts believe that an Obrador presidency could bring economic instability to Mexico and beyond. The exchange rate of the peso, with its sensitive barometric properties, concurs.

On Mexico State’s election day, it registered the probable victory of MORENA, rising 11 cents after polls closed, only to drop 21 cents when preliminary tallies handed victory to Del Mazo.

The candidate has said that he’s no Chávez and that businesses have nothing to worry about. In keeping, his party is carefully calibrating its image.

Recently, MORENA hosted the Venezuelan ambassador, who expressed her gratefulness for the party’s solidarity with the Bolivarian regime on Twitter, only to later delete the tweets. Obrador’s party denounced the whole event as fake and underscored MORENA’s non-interventionist foreign policy.

Some supporters will miss the old firebrand when López Obrador makes his third run for the presidency. Can he square their desires with the sensibilities of the peso?

Salvador Vázquez del Mercado, Lecturer on Public Opinion and Research Methodology, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Mexico’s Ruling Party Narrowly Wins Against Leftists in Major State Election

The presidential candidate from the opposing party,Lopez Obrador, has challenged the validity of the votes, accusing the winning party of fraud.

Alfredo del Mazo, Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) candidate for the Governor of the State of Mexico greets to supporters during the election day in Toluca, Mexico June 4, 2017. Credit: Reuters/Carlos Jasso

Toluca, Mexico: Mexico‘s ruling party fended off a leftist challenger in a major state election seen as a test run for a presidential vote next year, propelling the country’s peso currency to its strongest level since US President Donald Trump was elected.

But the Institutional Revolutionary Party‘s (PRI) three-percentage-point margin of victory in the central State of Mexico, the country’s most populous, was a close call for President Enrique Pena Nieto, whose party has ruled it for nearly nine decades.

A narrow defeat will not end, or even dampen, the aspirations of leftists led by veteran Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, an early favorite for next year’s presidential race as the contender of the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party. His young party accused the PRI of vote buying and other dirty tricks, and may launch legal challenges in the weeks to come.

With nearly 98% of returns in from polling booths, PRI candidate Alfredo del Mazo had 34% of the vote compared with 31 % for MORENA candidate Delfina Gomez.

“We are going to challenge [the results] at many booths where illegal returns were sent, and we believe that with this we could reverse the outcome,” said MORENA secretary general Yeidckol Polevnsky.

In other statewide elections, also held on Sunday, the PRI lost in the western state of Nayarit and narrowly won in Coahuila, which borders the US.

“The PRI struggled to hold on to the gubernatorial seat in both the State of Mexico and Coahuila, which have traditionally been very favourable electoral battlegrounds, and suffered significant losses in Nayarit and in the municipal election in Veracruz,” said Goldman Sachs economist Alberto Ramos.

“This does not bode well for the PRI in the presidential election next year,” Ramos added.

Still, markets reacted positively to the news that the PRI was bound to retain power inMexico State.

The Mexican peso gained nearly 2% in Monday morning trade, on the setback for Lopez Obrador, a sign of ongoing market distrust of the combative leader who has opposed economic liberalisation in Mexico.

The result also gave a boost to OHL Mexico, the Mexican unit of Spanish construction firm OHL, whose share price rose by as much as 9.5%.

Investors fear that Lopez Obrador and other opposition leaders, who have accused OHL Mexico of helping to finance the PRI in the State of Mexico, could go after the firm’s lucrative contracts if they are elected to power. OHL Mexico has rejected the allegations.

History of challenging results

The PRI is battling widespread anger at corruption and rising violent crime under Pena Nieto as the countdown starts for the July 2018 presidential election.

Lopez Obrador has alleged fraud in past elections, and he vowed to scrutinise the results from every voting booth.

“We will never resort to violence, but we are going to firmly defend this country’s democracy,” he said in a video message. Gomez, the candidate, said she would not protest the result on the streets.

Known as AMLO, the silver-haired politician earned the ire of many Mexico City residents after the 2006 presidential vote when he brought parts of the capital to a standstill with mass protests, saying he had been robbed of victory by centre-right candidate Felipe Calderon.

“The lengths that Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador goes to challenge the result will have an important bearing on his presidential candidacy,” said Nicholas Watson of Teneo Intelligence.

Prosecutors are probing the circumstances of piles of pig heads dumped on Saturday near MORENA offices and at polling stations in several municipalities.

Also under investigation were telephone threats and fake electoral literature warning of attacks–tactics used to dissuade people from voting.

Encompassing many populous neighbourhoods on the edge of Mexico City, the State of Mexico is home to one in eight Mexican voters and it has long been a source of strength and financing for the PRI.

Del Mazo, however, had a poor showing compared to his predecessors despite his family’s dominance in the state‘s politics. He secured barely half the share of vote and a fraction of the margin of victory that the current governor won six years ago with the backing of Pena Nieto, himself a former governor of the state whose own popularity has since plunged.

Corruption, violence weigh on PRI

Failing to put a stop to corruption scandals and struggling to tame brutal gang violence has cost the party dearly.

Mexico‘s attorney general’s office said on Sunday a former state governor for the PRI, Roberto Borge, had been arrested at Mexico‘s request in Panama on corruption charges. Borge, an ex-governor of Quintana Roo, encompassing the resort of Cancun, has previously denied wrongdoing.

Lopez Obrador’s State of Mexico campaign was hurt by a failure to ally with others in the opposition and references by rivals to crisis-hit Venezuela, which the PRI argues mirrors his economic model. He denies the accusation.

The campaigner has opposed the opening of Mexico‘s energy sector to private capital, a key reform under Pena Nieto, but no longer vows to reverse it.

Linking Lopez Obrador to late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez has helped rivals beat him to the top job in two previous bids at the presidency.

Victory for Lopez Obrador in 2018 could push Mexico in a more nationalist direction at a time of tension with the United States, with US President Donald Trump riling Mexicans with threats to tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement and build a border wall.