Mexico leftist says won't mix economics, ideology

MEXICO CITY
The leftist favored to win Mexico's presidential election this week said on Monday he would not mix ideology with economics, playing down investor fears he could run up debts with populist spending policies.

"There will be responsible management of the economy. Technical, not ideological management of the economy," Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said in an interview published in El Universal newspaper.

Former indigenous welfare officer Lopez Obrador has a slight opinion poll lead ahead of an election on Sunday that will test whether Latin America's political lurch to the left of recent years can take root as far north as the U.S. border.

The leftist's nearest rival, conservative ruling party candidate Felipe Calderon, has said Lopez Obrador would wreck Mexico's economy and exacerbate class tension. Calderon warned on Sunday of a "horror movie" of debt and division if his rival won.

Investors hope Lopez Obrador's economic polices would be closer to those of Brazil's pragmatist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva than the heavy state interventionism of Venezuela's outspokenly anti-U.S. leader Hugo Chavez.

But Lopez Obrador rejected comparisons with either, saying Mexico's proximity to the United States and its economic dependence on its powerful neighbor would put him in a different position from other regional leftist leaders.

"Every country has its story. Mexico is not the same as Brazil or Venezuela," he said in the interview. "We have a ... border with the United States, the most powerful nation in the world, where 20 million of our countrymen live."

Lopez Obrador said that if elected he would work with President Vicente Fox to ensure a smooth handover of power on Dec. 1 and said that it was important to send investors messages of stability and certainty.