Mexico | Claudia Sheinbaum would become the first president

(Mexico) The candidate of the left in power Claudia Sheinbaum would become the first woman president in the history of Mexico, according to three surveys released after the closure of all polling stations.

M^me Sheinbaum, 61, would largely win with 57.8% of the vote against 29.1% for former center-right senator Xóchitl Gálvez, according to the Enkoll Institute survey. The centrist candidate Jorge Álvarez Máynez would come far behind (11.4%) in this one-round election.

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.

These surveys were authorized by the National Electoral Institute (INE), which will give its official projection between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. in Mexico City (between 4 a.m. and 1 a.m. [heure de l’Est] Monday).

The surveys were released after the last polling stations on the Pacific coast closed at 7 p.m. (9 p.m. Eastern) in this country of nearly two million km² straddling three time zones.

If the trends are confirmed, M^me Sheinbaum will speak and celebrate his victory in the evening on the large central square of the Zocalo, under the windows of the National Palace, seat of the presidency.

61-year-old scientist, the former mayor of Mexico City would take 1^er October taking over from his political mentor, outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, for a six-year term until 2030.

She would become the first female president in the history of a country which in 2023 recorded an average of ten assassinations of women per day, according to UN figures.

In total, 70% of Mexican women over the age of 15 have experienced violence at least once in their life, from the same source.

By voting in Mexico, M^me Sheinbaum hailed a “historic day.” 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.

Granddaughter of Jews who fled Nazism and poverty in Lithuania and Bulgaria, M^me Sheinbaum is buoyed by the popularity of the outgoing president, who ends his mandate with 66% favorable opinions.

She was also able to rely on the anchoring of the ruling Morena party, which in ten years of existence with its allies won the presidency, the parliamentary majority, as well as around twenty of the 32 states.

Voters were also called upon to renew Congress and the Senate, to choose governors in nine of the 32 states and to appoint local deputies and mayors.

In a message just after the closing of all polling stations, M^me Gálvez warned his supporters against the “authoritarianism” of those in power, adding: “They are capable of anything.”

Queuing and violence

A total of 98.3 million voters were registered on the electoral lists. From Tijuana to Mexico City via Guadalajara. The day was marked by long queues in front of polling stations under a blazing sun, according to AFP photographers.

“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.

Election day was overtaken by violence in some places.

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.

“I am going to vote for Morena, because they gave a lot of help to the elderly, to the children,” testified Reina Balbuena, 50, who sells “tamales”, a typical Mexican dish – a kind of papillote filled with meat. and corn.

“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 ($64) 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 was preparing to vote for the PAN, a right-wing party, one of the three which supports M^me Galvez.