In a landslide win, Claudia Sheinbaum of the ruling communist MORENA party made history as the nation’s first female president. With between 58.3 and 60.7% of the vote, she defeated conservative PAN candidate Xochitl Gálvez, according to a quick sample count conducted by Mexico’s electoral commission. This is expected to be the largest vote percentage in the democratic history of the nation.
The largest-ever election in Mexican history was also the bloodiest, marred by violence. Criminal organizations have slain a number of political candidates and applicants in an effort to sway individuals in positions of authority. After at least 38 candidates were slain, worries about the danger of rival drug gangs to democracy arose.
“I will be the first female president of Mexico,” Sheinbaum grinned as she spoke at a downtown hotel just after election officials said that a statistical sample indicated she had an unassailable lead. “I don’t make it alone. We’ve all made it, with our heroines who gave us our homeland, with our mothers, our daughters, and our granddaughters. We have demonstrated that Mexico is a democratic country with peaceful elections.”
Xóchitl Gálvez, the opposition candidate, received between 26.6% and 28.6% of the vote, while Jorge Álvarez Máynez received between 9.9% and 10.8%. Additionally, majorities for Sheinbaum’s MORENA party were predicted in each of the two chambers of Congress.
There was little question that Mexico would create history on Sunday given that the two front-runners were both female. Sheinbaum will also be the nation’s first Jewish leader, a rarity in the predominately Catholic nation.
