Mexico: Lopez Obrador’s party hopes for big wins in June 6 vote

Midterm elections will decide if Mexican president’s leftist Morena party will hold onto key two-thirds majority in Congress.

Mexican voters will head to the polls on June 6 to cast their ballots in what has been called the largest election in the nation’s history, which President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is hoping will shore up support for his leftist Morena party. The midterm election will decide the makeup of the 500-seat Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Congress. Also up for grabs are more than 2,100 mayor and city councillor positions, along with 30 state legislator seats and 15 governorships. While Lopez Obrador, known colloquially by his initials AMLO, will not be on the ballot, the contest will determine whether Morena and its allies will retain the two-thirds majority they need to make constitutional changes – and set the course for the popular but polarising Mexican president’s remaining three years in office.