Claudia Sheinbaum has achieved a historic victory in Mexico's presidential election, becoming the country's first female president. She inherits the project of her mentor and outgoing leader, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, whose popularity among the poor played a significant role in her triumph.
A climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, Sheinbaum secured a landslide victory with between 58.3% and 60.7% of the vote, according to a rapid sample count by Mexico’s electoral authority. This is expected to be the highest vote percentage in Mexico’s democratic history.
The ruling coalition is also on track for a possible two-thirds supermajority in both houses of Congress, enabling them to pass constitutional reforms without opposition support.
Opposition candidate Xochitl Galvez conceded defeat after preliminary results showed her taking between 26.6% and 28.6% of the vote.
“For the first time in the 200 years of the republic, I will become the first woman president of Mexico,” Sheinbaum announced to her supporters, who cheered loudly.
Sheinbaum's victory marks a significant milestone for Mexico, a country known for its macho culture and traditional gender roles. She is the first woman to win a general election in the United States, Mexico, or Canada.
“I never imagined that one day I would vote for a woman,” said 87-year-old Edelmira Montiel, a Sheinbaum supporter in Mexico’s smallest state Tlaxcala. “Before we couldn’t even vote, and when you could, it was to vote for the person your husband told you to vote for. Thank God that has changed, and I get to live it,” Montiel added.
Sheinbaum faces a challenging road ahead, needing to balance promises of increasing popular welfare policies with inheriting a hefty budget deficit and low economic growth. She has pledged fiscal responsibility and respect for the autonomy of the central bank.
On security, an issue of paramount importance in Mexico, Sheinbaum has promised improvements but has provided few details. The election was the most violent in Mexico’s modern history, with 38 candidates murdered, highlighting the country's significant security challenges.
“Unless she commits to making a game-changing level of investment in improving policing and reducing impunity, Sheinbaum will likely struggle to achieve a significant improvement in overall levels of security,” said Nathaniel Parish Flannery, an independent Latin America political risk analyst.
The ruling MORENA party also won the Mexico City mayorship race, one of the country’s most important posts, according to preliminary results.
