Leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador won a landslide victory in Mexico’s presidential elections, vowing to crackdown on corruption and criminal violence and pursue responsible economic policies.
The sharp-tongued, silver-haired politician known as "AMLO" won 53 percent of the vote, according to an official projection of the results.
That would be the biggest share of the vote since the early 1980s, and would give Lopez Obrador a strong platform both to address Mexico’s internal problems and face external challenges like the threat of a trade war with the United States.
It is the first time in Mexico's modern history a candidate has won more than half the vote in a competitive election, and a resounding rejection of the two parties that have governed the country for nearly a century.
Speaking to reporters after his win, Lopez Obrador identified corruption as the “principal cause” of inequality and the criminal violence that has bedeviled Mexico for years, and said he would spare no one in his commitment to root it out.
“Whoever it is will be punished, I include comrades, officials, friends and family members,” the 64-year-old said. “A good judge begins at home.”
"This is a historic day, and it will be a memorable night," Lopez Obrador said in a victory speech in Mexico City's Alameda park, as thousands of ecstatic supporters flooded the capital's central district, chanting "Yes we did!" and partying to mariachi music.
He sought to downplay fears of radicalism, after critics branded him a "tropical Messiah" who would install Venezuela-style policies that could wreck Latin America's second-largest economy.
"Our new national project seeks an authentic democracy. We are not looking to construct a dictatorship, either open or hidden," he told cheering supporters, promising to respect private property, guarantee individual liberties and work to reconcile a divided nation.
The election was a crushing defeat for the ruling centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which governed Mexico from 1929-2000 continually and again from 2012.
Public anger over corruption scandals, which have shattered the PRI’s credibility, was a defining feature of the campaign, alongside nationwide discontent over soaring levels of violence and years of lackluster economic growth.
Lopez Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor, was greeted with rapturous cheers by supporters in the capital’s Zocalo central square around midnight, while friends celebrated in his tiny hometown of Tepetitan, in the poor southern state of Tabasco.
The victory was a vindication for Lopez Obrador, who was written off by many critics after narrowly failing to capture the presidency at his first bid in 2006.
He paid tribute to the role in the campaign played by outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto and the media, both of which have felt the bite of his scorn in the past.
Mexican presidents are limited by law to a single term.
Lopez Obrador will take office in December facing a US government that has been openly antagonistic to Mexico over trade and migration under President Donald Trump.
He vowed to pursue a relationship of "friendship and cooperation" with the US, Mexico's key trading partner -- a change in tone from some comments during the campaign, when he said he would put Trump "in his place."
The newly elected president has said he wants to make Mexico more economically independent of the US. At the same time, he also hopes to persuade Trump to help develop Mexico and Central America in order to contain illegal migration.
Trump, whose anti-trade, anti-immigration policies have infuriated Mexico, appeared ready to start off on the right foot.
"I look very much forward to working with him," he tweeted. "There is much to be done that will benefit both the United States and Mexico!"
Canada's Justin Trudeau echoed the congratulations while emphasizing his country's work with Mexico to renegotiate the NAFTA trade pact -- an effort that has stalled over attempts to satisfy Trump's demands.
"Canada and Mexico are close friends and longtime partners," Trudeau said in a statement. "We share common goals, strong people to people ties, and a mutually beneficial trading relationship that is the envy of the world -- reflected in our joint effort to update the North American Free Trade Agreement for the 21st century."
