Early results indicated that the climate scientist was to be the first woman and Jewish person elected as president of the country.
Climate scientist and former Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum made history on Sunday by becoming the first woman and Jewish person to be elected president of Mexico. Her landslide victory brought about a double milestone.
According to preliminary findings, Ms. Sheinbaum, 61, won what the authorities referred to as the most significant election in Mexico’s history, with the greatest number of voters casting ballots and the greatest number of seats in contest.
In a historic poll, two women competed to become the leaders of one of the largest countries in the hemisphere. Furthermore, it will place a Jewish leader in charge of one of the biggest, mostly Catholic nations in the world.
The socialist Ms. Sheinbaum thrilled her party’s base and alarmed her critics with her campaign promise to uphold the legacy of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the current president of Mexico and her mentor. Her victory was a resounding vote of confidence in Mr. López Obrador and the party he founded, since many saw the election as a referendum on his leadership.
Mexican politics have been fundamentally transformed by Mr. López Obrador. Millions of Mexicans were pulled out of poverty and the minimum wage quadrupled under his administration. However, he has also been a very divisive president, under fire for consistently undermining democratic institutions, sabotaging the country’s healthcare system, and failing to rein in the bloodshed perpetrated by cartels.
Even so, Mr. López Obrador continues to enjoy widespread support, and his selected successor was encouraged by this. Despite all the obstacles the nation faced, the opposition failed to convince Mexicans that their candidate was the best choice.
About Ms. Sheinbaum, Gloria Maria Rodríguez, 78, from Tabasco, remarked, “We love her, we want her to work like Obrador.” “We desire an Obrador-like president.”
Preliminary results showed that Ms. Sheinbaum received at least 58 percent of the vote, placing her at least 29 points ahead of her closest rival, Xóchitl Gálvez, a former senator and businesswoman running on a ticket with a coalition of opposition parties.
Ms. Sheinbaum will have received a larger percentage of the vote than any candidate in decades if early returns hold true.
Speaking to supporters early on Monday, Ms. Sheinbaum praised her historic elevation to the country’s highest position, pledged to work for all Mexicans, and reiterated her party’s dedication to democracy.
“I will become the first female president of Mexico for the first time in the republic’s 200-year history,” she declared. Furthermore, as I’ve mentioned previously, I don’t show there by myself. Together with our moms, forefathers, daughters, and granddaughters, as well as our heroines who had given us our motherland, we had all come.
