Mexico Ruling Alliance Loses Super-Majority in Midterm Vote

(Bloomberg) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s ruling coalition lost its super-majority in the lower house on Sunday, according to a quick count of midterm results, losing ground in congress and dealing a heavy blow to its chances of passing constitutional reforms.

The president’s Morena party and allies will hold between 265 and 292 seats in the 500-person chamber -- far short of their current two-thirds majority, according to the quick count by the country’s electoral institute. The smaller majority will make it significantly harder for Lopez Obrador to achieve his goal of passing sweeping legislative changes including Mexico’s key energy sector.

Morena’s individual tally will fall from the 253 seats it now holds to between 190 and 203 seats, forcing it to work with allies to keep its simple majority. It will take home between 34.9% and 35.8% of the vote, down from the 37.3% it won in 2018. The opposition PAN came in second with 106 to 117 seats, followed by the PRI with 63 to 75 seats.

“This puts the brakes on the president’s project to transform the country, at least on constitutional matters,” said Javier Martin Reyes, a political scientist at research center CIDE in Mexico City. “The risk is that Lopez Obrador keeps betting on decrees and laws that are probably unconstitutional, generating more tension, making the judicial power more important.”

The peso strengthened about 0.3% in Asian trading after the news that congress might provide a stronger check to Lopez Obrador’s power.

The election has been one of the most violent in Mexican history, with dozens of candidates murdered, kidnapped or attacked.

Read More: Mexico Midterms Are Biggest Test Yet for AMLO’s Ambitious Agenda

The turnout was between 51.7 and 52.5%, the electoral authority said on Sunday night.

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