With a landslide victory on Sunday, Claudia Sheinbaum became Mexico’s first female president, creating history in a nation beset by widespread gender-based and criminal violence.
In Mexico City’s main center, thousands of supporters waved flags and celebrated the triumph of the ruling party candidate by singing and dancing to mariachi music.
“I express my gratitude to the millions of Mexican women and men who chose to support us on this momentous day,” Sheinbaum declared as she addressed the applauding assembly in her victory speech.
The 61-year-old former mayor of Mexico City promised, “I won’t fail you.”
She expressed gratitude to Xochitl Galvez, her principal opponent, who acknowledged losing.
Sheinbaum, a physicist by background, received between 58 and 60 percent of the vote, according to the National Electoral Institute’s first official figures.
More than thirty percentage points separated that from Galvez and about fifty percentage points separated it from the front-runner, longshot centrist Jorge Alvarez Maynez.
Even though there had been occasional violence in regions of the country threatened by extremely vicious drug cartels, voters had flocked to polling places throughout Latin America.
Thousands of troops were sent in to safeguard voters during an especially violent election that resulted in the murders of over two dozen would-be local officials.
Women in Mexico who were voting had expressed excitement at the possibility of a female breaking through the highest political glass barrier in a nation where approximately ten women or girls are killed every day.
“We hope that a female president does more for women. She will be a transformation for this country,” said Mexico City cleaner Clemencia Hernandez, 55.
Numerous women are oppressed by their spouses. They are not permitted to work outside the home,” she remarked.
The thirty-year-old Daniela Perez stated that although she did not think either of the two front-runners was “totally feminist,” having a female president would be “something historic.”
The manager of a logistics company continued, “We’ll have to see their positions on improving women’s rights, resolving the issue of femicides — which have gone crazy— and supporting women more.”
The most populous Spanish-speaking nation in the world, with 129 million people, had around 100 million registered voters.
Her popularity is largely due to outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a mentor and fellow leftist with a support rating above 60% who can only hold office for one term.
“With all my affection and respect,” Lopez Obrador praised his ally.
He noted that in addition to being the first female president of Mexico, “she is the president with possibly the most votes obtained in the history of our country.”
Following her vote, Sheinbaum disclosed that, in honor of her struggle, she had voted for Ifigenia Martinez, a 93-year-old veteran socialist, rather than for herself.
To ensure their favorite candidates won, drug cartels went to great lengths in a country where crime, politics, and corruption are closely intertwined.
Authorities said that a local candidate was killed in a volatile western state hours before polling opened. This election season, at least 25 other political candidates have been killed, according to official statistics.
Two people lost their lives in the Mexican state of Puebla after unidentified individuals broke into polling places in order to steal papers, an AFP source from the local government security agency said.
Violence in two towns in the southern state of Chiapas resulted in the suspension of voting.
Sheinbaum has promised to uphold the contentious “hugs not bullets” policy of the outgoing administration, which aims to address the underlying causes of crime.
Galvez declared that “hugs for criminals are over” and promised a more severe response to violence stemming from cartels.
Since the government sent the army to combat drug trafficking in 2006, more than 450,000 people have been murdered and tens of thousands have vanished from sight.
The incoming president will also have to handle the sensitive matters of migration and cross-border drug smuggling with the neighboring United States.
Mexicans cast ballots for approximately 20,000 posts, including members of Congress, many state governors, and numerous local authorities, in addition to selecting a new president.
