Millions of Mexicans went to the polls. The first woman to take office will have to confront issues of violence, inequality and migration
MEXICO CITY.- The most relevant elections in recent decades in Mexico, with nearly 99 million people able to vote to decide who will occupy the more than 20,708 local, state and Congressional positions, also put Mexico in first place. a woman for the presidency.
For the first time in the history of Mexico, two women were the main contenders to lead the second largest economy in Latin America: Claudia Sheinbaum, from the ruling coalition Let’s Keep Making History; and Xochitl Galvezfrom the opposition coalition Fuerza y Corazón por México.
In these elections, of great relevance due to the political and social context that Mexico is going through, the continuity of the president’s policy was also decided. Andrés Manuel López Obrador or by a change of government.
In addition to the presidency, the formation of the Congress of the Union was disputed with 500 seats for deputies and 28 for senators. The position of governor was also voted on in the states of Chiapas, Mexico City, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Morelos, Puebla and Yucatán. Clara Brugadafrom the ruling coalition, was elected governor of Mexico City.
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In the race for the first judgeship, Sheinbaum was always the favorite, according to almost all polls. This scientist ran for the ruling coalition, made up of Morena, the Labor Party and the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico. As part of the Intergovernmental Panel of Experts on Climate Change, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, and served in the 2018-2024 six-year term as Head of Government of the capital city, one of the largest and most populated cities in the world. planet.
High complexity
The expansion of organized crime “is the most intimidating problem” that whoever wins the presidency will have to face, he said. Michael Shifter, researcher at the Inter-American Dialogue analysis center, based in Washington. He will also have the challenge of maintaining social programs when the fiscal deficit rose to 5.9% and the average growth in the last six years was just 0.8%.
Another challenge will be the relationship with the United States, destination of 80% of Mexican exports, especially if donald trump returns to power.
The former president, now a candidate, threatened mass deportations of migrants crossing the almost 3,200-kilometer binational border. Furthermore, in 2026 the two countries and Canada must renegotiate their T-MEC trade agreement.
The international analyst Arlene Ramirez Uresticonsulted by CNN, said that the fact that Mexico will have its first female president “without a doubt, sends an interesting message for Latin America.” Mariana Linares Cruzco-founder of Auna, a platform that promotes political representation with women’s leadership, considers representativeness positive.
They both agree that it is not enough. For there to be changes in the country, where sexist violence is a survival problem for women, it will be necessary for whoever takes office to have an agenda with a gender perspective and an interest in solving the problems that women experience, which they also surpass in three million men on the electoral roll
It was the first time that a constitutional reform was applied, approved in 2019 for gender parity among candidates, which changes the representation of women in public life decisions.
There are nine states headed by a woman: Guerrero, Baja California, Colima, State of Mexico, Campeche, Tlaxcala, Aguascalientes, Chihuahua and Quintana Roo. In the case of Yucatán, the acting governor is also a woman.
The president will receive a country with historic numbers of migrants, a lack of protection for those who arrive from the south or move within, and the tightening of restrictions on migration, with more severe measures against illegal crossing of the border into the United States. .
The head of mission of the International Organization for Migration in Mexico, Dana Graber Ladekbelieves that there will be an increasing number of people arriving in the country as a destination or transit country.
In 2023, the National Migration Institute recorded 782,176 encounters of irregular migrants in Mexico, which represented an increase of 77% compared to 2022, when 441,409 arrivals were recorded. That figure included 113,660 minors under 18 years of age, which meant an increase of 60% compared to the previous year, with 71,206 registrations.
Violence against women, expressed in femicides, disappearances and trafficking, is another aspect that seems most difficult to dismantle for whoever assumes the presidency. There were 848 women murdered last year, a number that, although lower than the previous year, continues to take your breath away.
The long wait
To know (or confirm) who the new president-elect is, we will have to wait. In Mexico City, the General Council of the Electoral Institute of Mexico City (IECM) reported that the results of the quick counts for the Head of Government and the 16 mayoralties would be in the early hours of today.
At 6 p.m. (8 p.m. in Argentina) the polls began to close in the state of Quintana Roo (east coast) and border areas with the United States. In Mexico three time zones govern, so voting concluded an hour later in around twenty states and at 20 in the northern Pacific districts, after which exit polls were expected to be known.
