Claudia Sheinbaum has won a landslide victory to become Mexico’s first female president, inheriting the project of her mentor and outgoing leader, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The former Mexico City mayor secured between 58.3% and 60.7% of the vote, according to a rapid sample count by Mexico’s electoral authority.
Sheinbaum’s ruling coalition, led by the Morena party, is on track to secure a possible two-thirds supermajority in both houses of Congress, allowing them to pass constitutional reforms without opposition support. The opposition candidate, Xóchitl Gálvez, conceded defeat after preliminary results gave her between 26.6% and 28.6% of the vote, while centrist candidate Jorge Álvarez Máynez came third with at least 9.9%.
“For the first time in the 200 years of the republic I will become the first woman president of Mexico,” Sheinbaum told supporters, who chanted “presidenta” – the feminine form of the country’s top political post. She is also the first person from a Jewish background to lead the country and the first woman to win a general election in the US, Mexico or Canada.
Sunday’s election was the most violent in modern Mexican history, with more than 30 candidates killed and hundreds dropping out due to criminal group interference. Two people were killed at polling stations in the state of Puebla. Despite the violence, about 100 million people were registered to vote, with long lines forming under sweltering heat.
Sheinbaum has vowed to continue López Obrador’s policies, including cash transfers to the elderly and single mothers, flagship infrastructure projects, and an expanded role for the military in domestic security. Her victory exceeds the 54.71% her mentor achieved in 2018, and López Obrador congratulated her, calling it a historic triumph.
