The Challenges of Mexican Elections

Antonio Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) has been one of the most frequent critics of Mexican electoral politics. The two-time presidential candidate for the left-leaning Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD) challenged both elections that he lost. He maintains that the elections were “plagued with irregularities.” To some, AMLO’s critiques and challenges are simply a manifestation of a reluctance to lose an election. After all, he challenged when losing by both small (2006) and large (2012) margins. Others, however, have taken AMLO’s charges more seriously, agreeing that electoral fraud continues to be a major concern in Mexican electoral politics.