Mexico elects first female president amid political violence

Former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum on Sunday gathered more than 58 percent of the vote to become Mexico’s next president, according to the National Electoral Institute. She beat opposition candidates Xóchitl Gálvez and Jorge Álvarez Máynez to become the first female president in the country’s 200-year history. Current president Andrés Manuel López Obrador congratulated Sheinbaum on her victory. Both politicians are part of the liberal Morena political party. 

Sheinbaum is a climate scientist who served as the mayor of Mexico City from 2018 to 2023. She will be the first person of Jewish descent to lead the predominantly Catholic country. She has said her family’s upbringing was mostly secular.

What are Sheinbaum’s positions? She has promised to expand welfare policies that López Obrador prioritized during his presidency and to improve national security. Sheinbaum is expected to have sweeping political support in Congress as her Morena party is projected to hold majorities in both chambers, according to the National Electoral Institute.

She will begin her six-year term on Oct. 1. Mexico’s constitution does not allow politicians to run for reelection.

What about the other elections in Mexico? Last week’s election was the country’s largest as candidates vied for more than 20,000 congressional and local positions. The election was marred by violence as gangs have murdered more than 30 political candidates since June 2023, according to research group Laboratorio Electoral.

Two gunmen on a motorcycle on Saturday gunned down Israel Delgado Vega in the state of Michoacan hours before voting began, according to the state’s Attorney General’s Office. Vega was running for city council in the town of Cuitzeo. President López Obrador stationed National Guard members at voting stations nationwide before the election due to the ongoing violence.

Dig deeper: Read Sharon Dierberger and Grace Snell’s report in WORLD Magazine about how Mexico’s presidential election shifted politics to the left.