Conservative Opposition in Mexico Leads 2018 Presidential Field: Poll Natalie Schachar - Reuters
go to original July 7, 2016

According to the former president of Mexico Vicente Fox, PAN will slowly start to rally around Margarita Zavala, the former wife of past PAN President Felipe Calderón. (NDMX)

Mexico's opposition conservatives would take back the presidency from the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, if the next election, scheduled for 2018, were held now, according to a recent poll.

The survey, conducted by Buendia & Laredo, found 24 percent of respondents would vote for the center-right National Action Party, or PAN, versus 20 percent who would opt for the PRI, led by President Enrique Pena Nieto. He is constitutionally barred from re-election.

The ruling party has been tarnished by a series of conflict-of-interest scandals embroiling Pena Nieto, his wife and finance minister, slower-than-expected economic growth, grisly drug violence and criticism he has failed to crack down on corruption.

The opinion poll comes about a month after the PAN and leftist allies routed the PRI in regional elections.

In third place in the poll was Morena, the left-leaning party of two-time presidential runner-up Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, which had the support of 17 percent of respondents. Lopez Obrador's former party, the Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD, traditionally the main leftist force in Mexican politics, had just 6 percent support.

Read the rest at Metro

Related: Mexico Ruling Party to Pick Energy Official as New Head (Reuters)

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