Claudia Sheinbaum becomes the first president of Mexico

(Mexico City) The candidate of the left in power and former mayor of Mexico City Claudia Sheinbaum largely won the presidential election in Mexico, according to a first survey following the polls relayed by major media.

M^me Sheinbaum, 61, won with 57.8% of the vote against 29.1% for former center-right senator Xochitl Galvez, according to the Enkoll Institute survey. Other polls from Televisa andEl Financiero also announced the victory of the candidate of the Movement for National Regeneration (Morena), but without giving a percentage.

In three months of campaigning, the former mayor of Mexico City Claudia Sheinbaum, candidate of the Movement for National Regeneration (Morena), regularly outpaced her center-right rival, Xochitl Galvez, by an average of 17 points, supported by a coalition of three gone.

“A historic day. I feel very happy,” M told the press.^me Sheinbaum after voting in southern Mexico.

Buoyed by the popularity of outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, she confided that she had not voted for herself in the presidential election, but for a pioneer of the Mexican left, Ifigenia Martinez, 93, in tribute to her struggle. “Long live democracy! », concluded M^me Sheinbaum.

In Mexico, ballot papers provide an empty box allowing voting for unregistered candidates.

“Go out without fear” to vote, said the opposition candidate, former center-right senator Xochitl Galvez, while waiting a long time under the blazing sun to vote.

Two people were killed in two attacks on polling stations on Sunday in the central state of Puebla, a local government security source said.

A candidate for local elections had already been killed in the same state on Friday. Another candidate for a minor mandate was killed in the night a few hours before the opening of polling stations in the west, according to the prosecution.

At least 25 candidates were assassinated during the campaign, according to an AFP count taken on Saturday.

“We already know that in some parts of Chiapas the polling stations will not be set up, I am very sorry for that. These elections were the most violent in our country’s history, but they also represent a tremendous opportunity to keep democracy alive and I believe there is significant turnout,” added Mr.^me Galvez.

“Women’s time”

The third candidate, Jorge Alvarez Maynez, 38, took his young son into the voting booth for a first civics lesson. “Our democracy is imperfect […]but we have moved forward as a country,” said the Citizen Movement (MC) representative after voting.

From Cancun (south-east) to Mexico City, lines began to form as soon as polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time (10 a.m. [heure de l’Est] in Mexico).

“I think it’s going to be historic in terms of participation,” says Ana Hernandez, 28, a political scientist, in front of a polling station in the capital.

The elections seem to have mobilized the electorate in this country which has been experiencing “polarization” between the supporters of the outgoing president and his adversaries for six years.

“I’m going to vote for Morena, because they gave a lot of help to the elderly, to children,” says Reina Balbuena, 50, who sells “tamales”, a typical Mexican dish (a sort of papillote filled with meat and but).

“I receive a scholarship for my granddaughter, I raise her, the mother I don’t know where she is, she left her to me. For this they pay me 800 pesos (47 dollars) and that helped me with my uniforms,” she adds, also convinced that “a female president will help women more.”

“Everything is bad today, security, work, school, pensions, services”, complains on the contrary Alma Mateos, in her forties, who will vote for the PAN, a right-wing party, one of the three which supports M^me Galvez.

“Yes, I prefer the old politics. I disagree with scholarships for young people. We give them 3,000 pesos and they spend it to buy beer, they stop studying,” this woman who works in sales believes.

Voters are also called upon to renew Congress and the Senate, choose governors in nine of the 32 states and appoint local deputies and mayors. In total, 20,000 positions are to be filled during these one-round elections.