Mexico | Historic election of a first president

(Mexico) Mexico goes to the polls on Sunday and is preparing to elect, barring any drama, the first woman president in the history of the country, plagued by violence linked to drug trafficking and where the UN counts around ten feminicides per day.

“A historic day. I feel very happy,” presidential election favorite, ruling leftist candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, told the press after voting in the south of the capital Mexico City.

In three months of campaigning, the former mayor of Mexico City, candidate of the Movement for National Regeneration (Morena), regularly outpaced his center-right rival, Xochitl Galve, by an average of 17 points.
z, supported by a coalition of three parties.

Claudia Sheinbaum 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, where 98.3 million people are registered on the electoral lists according to the National Electoral Institute (INE), the ballot papers provide an empty box allowing people to vote for unregistered candidates.

“I am very optimistic,” opposition candidate Xochitl Galvez said after casting her vote. The former center-right senator declared during the campaign that she was banking on a “hidden vote” in her favor, which would have escaped the polls.

M^me Galvez voted after waiting a long time under the blazing sun, like many Mexicans. Several polling stations opened late in several places in the country, according to testimonies reported by Milenio TV.

“Women’s time”

The third candidate, Jorge Alvarez Maynez, 38, brought his young son into the voting booth for a civics lesson.

“It’s an imperfect democracy. […] but we have moved forward as a country,” said the Citizen Movement (MC) representative after voting.

Violence overtook election day in the world’s largest Spanish-speaking country, where local elections are also taking place, with the assassination of a candidate for office in the western state of Michoacan.

Israel Delgado, 35, was shot and killed Saturday night. Before him, at least 25 candidates had been assassinated, according to AFP counts.

From Cancun (southeast) to Mexico City, lines began to form as soon as polling stations opened at 8 a.m. local time (10 a.m. Eastern time).

“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.

Clemencia Hernandez, a 55-year-old housekeeper, prepares to vote for Caudia Sheibaum in Mexico City. “A female president will be transformational and let’s hope she does more for this country.” Violence against women is 100% here. Many women are subjugated by their partners, who do not let them leave the house to work,” she says.

“No government before had been so concerned about the elderly,” she argues, referring to outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Claudia Sheinbaum’s political mentor.

Eunice Carlos, a 70-year-old retiree waiting to vote in the residential district of Polanco, judges on the contrary that Mr. Lopez Obrador was “a very harmful president, first of all because he divided us”. “My vote is in favor of democracy with Xochitl Galvez.”

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. The first trends for the presidential election will be known a few hours after the closing of polling stations on the Pacific coast.

“It’s the time for women and transformation,” proclaimed Claudia Sheinbaum, buoyed by the popularity of the outgoing president, during her last campaign rally on Wednesday in Mexico City.

“This means living without fear and being free from violence,” added M^me Sheinbaum. Every day, an average of nine to ten women are murdered in Mexico, according to UN Women.

Of modest origin, born to an indigenous father, business manager, her rival Xochitl Galvez denounced the failure of the security policy of the outgoing government, speaking of “186,000 people murdered and 50,000 people missing” since 2018 .

Cartel violence

The fight against the violence of cartels, gangs and gangs will be the first challenge for the future president, according to Michael Shifter, researcher at the Dialogo Interamericano analysis center, headquartered in Washington.

In total, some 450,000 people have been murdered since 2006, when former President Felipe Calderon sent the army against the cartels.

M^me Sheinbaum promised to continue the current policy of tackling the causes of violence rather than repression, while fighting against “impunity”. M^me Galvez said she wanted to put an end to the “baiting” for the cartels.