Claudia Sheinbaum makes history as Mexico’s first woman president

Claudia Sheinbaum has been elected as Mexico’s first female president in a resounding win, achieving a historic victory.

According to Mexico’s official electoral authority, preliminary results indicate that the 61-year-old former mayor of Mexico City secured between 58% and 60% of the vote in Sunday’s election. This gives her an almost 30-point lead over her closest competitor, businesswoman Xóchitl Gálvez.

She is set to succeed her mentor, outgoing President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on 1 October. Sheinbaum, a former energy scientist, has pledged to maintain continuity, promising to further the “advances” made by López Obrador.
“I won’t fail you,” she said assuring the people in her victory speech.
Her supporters are celebrating in the Zócalo, Mexico City’s main square, waving banners that read “Claudia Sheinbaum, president.”

Before her presidential bid, Sheinbaum served as the mayor of Mexico City, one of the country’s most powerful political roles, often seen as a stepping stone to the presidency.

However, the just concluded elections has become its bloodiest in modern history after the number of a§§assinated candidates reached 37 before today’s vote.
The number of candidates a§§assinated in the 2024 election reached 37 – one more than during the 2021 midterm election – after a candidate running for local office in Puebla state was m¥rdered at a political rally on Friday, according to data from security consultancy firm Integralia. The consultancy has also recorded 828 non-lethal att+cks on candidates during the election season, up from 749 since Monday.

In a nation where politics, crime and corruption are closely entangled, dr*g cartels went to extreme lengths to ensure that their preferred candidates win. Hours before polls opened, a local candidate was m*rdered in a v+olent western state, authorities said, joining at least 25 other political hopefuls k+lled this election season, according to official figures.

In the central Mexican state of Puebla, two people diEd after unknown persons att+cked polling stations to steal papers, a local government security source told AFP. Voting was suspended in two municipalities in the southern state of Chiapas because of vtolence. Sheinbaum has pledged to continue the outgoing president’s controversial “hugs not b¥llets” strategy of tackling crime at its roots.

More than 450,000 people have been mYrdered and tens of thousands have gone missing since the government deployed the army to fight dr*g trafficking in 2006.