Jonathan Bernstein, Columnist

Mexico’s Likely President Won’t Govern as a Populist

Lopez Obrador, the leftist who is favored to win the election, is no Hugo Chavez: A Q&A ahead of Sunday’s vote.

June 29, 2018 at 5:40 PM UTC

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics. A former professor of political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio, he wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.

Lopez Obrador is expected to be the next president. — Lopez Obrador is expected to be the next president.
Photographer: Pedro Mera/Getty Images South America

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Mexico isn’t only dealing with significant domestic issues; it’s also under near-constant attack from President Donald Trump. Voters go to the polls on July 1 to select a new president and legislature. The unpopular current president, Enrique Peña Nieto, is term-limited, and his governing PRI party is trailing badly in the polls. So change is coming.

For some insight, I spoke with Jennifer Piscopo of Occidental College, an expert in Latin American politics, about the likely effects of the election.