MEXICO CITY — Two weeks after tens of hundreds of Mexicans protested towards proposed electoral adjustments they are saying would undermine democracy, Mexico’s president on Sunday marched by way of the capital accompanied by huge crowds in a show of well-liked assist for his mandate.
In an early style of the 2024 presidential election, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s supporters, some touring lots of of miles by bus to the capital, got here with Mexican flags, marching bands and even president-shaped stuffed toys as they stuffed the center of the capital, chanting, “It’s an honor to be with Obrador.”
Mexico’s political opposition and a few members of civil society spoke out towards the march, calling it a present of power by a pacesetter they forged as a budding authoritarian who makes use of state sources — together with welfare applications — to keep up his reputation.
The president has denied these accusations, however the sway Mr. López Obrador maintains over many Mexicans was on full show Sunday.
Some mentioned they had been there to indicate assist for a president who had benefited them economically by way of welfare applications, though they had been much less conscious of Mr. López Obrador’s extra particular coverage objectives — together with the contentious electoral adjustments he hopes to get ratified.
The overhaul would give the president extra management over Mexico’s electoral methods, however whereas Mexico’s Congress started discussing the proposal earlier this month, Mr. López Obrador doesn’t have sufficient votes for it to be adopted.
Opposition members fear that the president will attempt to push the adjustments by way of by different means earlier than the tip of the yr. Mr. López Obrador has used presidential decrees to undertake a few of his extra contentious insurance policies lately.
Sunday’s march was a bid by the president to indicate well-liked assist for his general mandate in addition to for his bid to overtake the electoral system and improve his energy over the physique that oversees voting, the Nationwide Electoral Institute.
It got here two weeks after a march to insulate the institute from the adjustments drew tens of hundreds of supporters. That protest was the most important opposition march of this presidency.
When Mr. López Obrador addressed the group Sunday afternoon, his speech targeted closely on the welfare applications his authorities has launched whereas principally skirting the rising violence and worsening safety scenario that has the nation since he took workplace in 2018. Some 4 years into his time period. the president maintains an approval score that hovers round 60 p.c, making him one of many world’s extra well-liked leaders.
“Love is paid again with love,” he mentioned when he took to the stage.
Mr. López Obrador cited the austerity spending program his authorities has pursued, which had led to some authorities employees having to usher in their very own bathroom paper and consuming water to some state companies, in line with workers. “In our authorities,” he mentioned, “there may be neither luxuries nor waste.”
That has freed up extra money to direct into the welfare system, though some impartial economists say the applications will not be as effectively run as throughout earlier administrations and hand out help no matter want.
On Sunday, the president’s supporters stuffed out the two.5 mile stretch from the Angel of Independence monument to the Zócalo, the seat of presidency energy the place Mr. Lopez Obrador addressed throngs of supporters on the finish of the day.
Alfredo Ramirez Martínez, 56, a farmer who traveled roughly 300 miles by bus to Mexico Metropolis from Oaxaca state, mentioned he had come out to assist a president who “helps the individuals most in want.”
However he mentioned he was dissatisfied with the worsening safety scenario in his hometown. “That may all the time exist,” he mentioned.
Critics of Mr. López Obrador mentioned that he and his authorities put stress on Mexico’s highly effective labor unions to attend Sunday’s march and accused municipalities ruled by the ruling social gathering of pressuring residents to attend, paying for the buses to move them to the capital.
“What the march reveals is the concern of the president and his administration: that’s, to lose energy within the 2024 election,” mentioned Claudio X. González Laporte, a member of the political opposition who helped manage the protests earlier this month. “I consider that we’re confronted with an authoritarian man who seeks to protect energy in any respect prices, is keen to bypass the Structure and legal guidelines to attain this.”
Though Mr. González agreed that the president maintained excessive approval rankings, he pointed to the lack of seats in Congress the ruling social gathering suffered through the elections final yr.
The president maintained that Sunday’s turnout was real.
A whole bunch of members of Mexico’s enormous electrical energy and building unions waved each the flags of their unions and the ruling social gathering. Buses bearing indicators of their origin had been parked all through the capital, protesters dismounting from the automobiles as mariachi bands serenaded the crowds headed towards the Zócalo.
The opposing marches of latest weeks underscored a fractured Mexico, the place Mr. López Obrador during the last decade has established a political social gathering that has principally outmanneuvered its opposition. However the ruling social gathering faces main obstacles forward of the 2024 presidential elections, together with a weakening economic system.
Mr. López Obrador is barred by the Structure from working for a second time period, however is regarded as positioning a loyalist from his social gathering as a presidential candidate in order that he can keep affect as soon as he steps down.
Magdalena Molina García, 62, a homemaker from Mexico Metropolis, mentioned she attended Sunday’s march to voice assist for a president who had elevated her and her household’s entry to social applications, together with a flagship one geared toward youthful Mexicans.
However Ms. Molina mentioned she didn’t assist the president’s “hugs not bullets” safety technique. Mr. López Obrador used the phrase to explain a tactic of spending extra to wean youths away from nation’s highly effective drug cartels and towards a extra significant life.
“I might by no means hug a prison,” she mentioned. However, she mentioned, “I’m one hundred pc an Obradorista.”