Mexican voters elect first woman president

By James Blears

According to Mexico’s Electoral Council, Claudia Sheinbaum has won the presidency with between 58 and 60 per cent of the vote. She is the Candidate of the leftist Morena Party, created in 2011 by outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Her nearest rival Xochitl Galvez, the candidate of a broad spectrum of parties, has already called to congratulate Claudia and concede defeat.

Sheinbaum will start work on 1 October, serving a single, non-renewable six-year term. 

She herself said: “I’ve said it from the start. This isn’t just about me...it’s about all of us getting here. I won’t fail you.''

A trained physicist and environmental engineer, Claudia served her political apprenticeship as Mayor of Mexico City from 2018 to last year. Her upcoming job will see her leading the world’s second-largest Catholic country. She is promising to increase social welfare programs, particularly developing the pension system for the elderly.

She’s facing the massive, daunting, and agonizing problem of the drug cartels. More than 185,000 people have been killed during the past six years. Concerning relations with Mexico’s giant northern neighbour, the United States, president-elect Sheinbaum is promising mutual respect and equality, and to always defend Mexicans on the other side of the border. 

Women finally secured the right to vote in Mexico seventy years ago.