Mexican president expects to win vote
MEXICO CITY – Despite widespread disillusionment with his government, President Enrique Peña Nieto on Monday emerged from midterm elections with an expected congressional majority that will let him forge ahead with his reform agenda without compromising with opponents.
With 95 percent of the ballots counted, Peña Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, and its two coalition partners received about 40 percent of the vote in Sunday’s election.
“I can assure you that Peña Nieto will be able to put together a majority with certainty,” said Roy Campos, director the Mitofsky polling firm. “Having 251, which is what he needs, is practically a done deal.”
Under Mexico’s mixed system of direct and proportional elections for congressional seats, analysts predicted the PRI coalition will ultimately control 245 to 263 seats in the 500-seat legislature.
Associated Press
