MEXICO CITY (AP) — Tens of thousands of pink-clad demonstrators marched through cities in Mexico and abroad on Sunday ahead of June 2 elections in a so-called “march for democracy” that targeted the country's ruling party.
The demonstrations called by Mexico's opposition parties called for free and fair elections in the Latin American country and railed against corruption on the same day that presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum registered as a candidate for the ruling Morena party. According to government figures, around 90,000 people protested against the leader.
Sheinbaum is widely seen as a successor candidate to Mexico's popular populist leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador. He is revered by many voters who say he pushed the country's elite parties from power in 2018 and represents the working class.
But the 70-year-old president is also accused of taking measures that endanger the country's democracy. Last year, the leader cut funding for the country's election agency, the National Electoral Institute, and weakened oversight of campaign spending, which the INE chief said “could ultimately poison democracy itself.” The agency's color, pink, was used as a symbol by protesters.
López Obrador has also attacked journalists in hours-long news conferences, repeatedly attacked Mexico's judiciary and claimed judges were part of a conservative conspiracy against his government.
In Mexico City on Sunday, thousands of people dressed in pink flocked to the city's main square, chanting, “Get López out.” Others carried signs that read, “The power of the people is greater than those in power.”
Gabriel Ozuna, 61, said she and her family are from the state of Baja California and took part in the march not only to support democratic institutions but also to protest against attacks by drug cartels on candidates, particularly in local elections.
“We know that our democracy is in danger. “We want to defend it and continue to defend it,” Ozuna said.
Opposition organizations marching included National Civic Front, Yes for Mexico, Citizen Power, Civil Society Mexico, UNE Mexico and United for Mexico.
“Democracy doesn’t solve water shortages, it doesn’t solve hunger, it doesn’t solve many things. But without democracy you can’t solve anything,” Enrique de la Madrid Cordero, a prominent politician from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), said in a video posted on social media urging people to join the protests.
The PRI held power in Mexico continuously for more than 70 years.
Marches were organized in a hundred cities across the country, as well as other cities in the United States and Spain.
However, the president remains very popular and opinion polls suggest that his ally Sheinbaum will easily advance to the presidency.
López Obrador repeatedly dismissed the protests, telling reporters on Friday that his critics don't care about democracy and are organizing the march to bring the corrupt back to power.
After the mass demonstration, the leader continued to rail against critics, saying there was no voter fraud in the election and that he did not interfere in democratic processes.
“It is their democracy… the democracy of the corrupt. What we want is a democracy of the people. We don't want power without the people. They are the ones who are building anti-democracy with electoral fraud,” López Obrador said.
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AP correspondent Megan Janetsky contributed to this report from Mexico City.
Follow AP's Latin America coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america