In a few hours the voting centers in Mexico will open to usher in the largest election in the country’s history. Not only will its first female president be chosen, but also 20,079 other public positions. Electoral authorities say they are ready to guarantee the process this Sunday, June 2.
In addition to the presidency, the most relevant positions at stake are the Head of Government of Mexico City and the governorships of eight states: Chiapas, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Morelos, Puebla, Tabasco, Veracruz and Yucatán.
The National Electoral Institute (INE) details that in addition, 1,098 positions for local legislators and Congresses will be up for election. As well as 1,975 receiverships and 431 auxiliary positions.
A little more than 98 million people are eligible to vote in some 170,000 centers around the country. Of them, a little less than half are people between 18 and 39 years old, with 46.8 million young people eligible to participate in the elections.
Added to the historical facts of these elections is that for the first time, some 50,000 inmates who are in prison without a sentence will be able to vote for president.
Stimulating the economy, reducing violence, improving the quality of education and generating opportunities for young people are among the challenges that the new government must take on.
“Regardless of which candidate wins, I would like to see a change in education, for teachers to look again and see that we are demanding a living wage and also transform Mexico and tell society that we are not abandoning our students,” he told the Voice of America Angélica Gonzalez, a teacher from Mexico City, who urged other citizens to vote.
Who is the favorite candidate?
Claudia Sheinbaum, Xóchitl Gálvez and Jorge Máynez are the three candidates for the presidency of Mexico. However, Sheinbaum and Gálvez have maintained a wide lead over Máynez in all polls leading up to the election.
In the case of Sheinbaum, chosen to succeed the current president, she remains in first position among popular opinion.
Gálvez is a senator until 2024 and represents several opposition parties, including the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), and the National Action Party (PAN).
The woman who is elected will assume the presidency on October 1, 2024, two months before the usual date on which an elected candidate takes office. Thus, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) will have the shortest six-year term in Mexican history at 5 years and 10 months.
Citizens monitor election
“This is the most complex and most difficult election that the nation is going to experience and it is the least monitored, the least observed, because it is the smallest number of accredited electoral observers,” Enrique Zárate, a vigilant citizen who along with a collective took on the task of observing the electoral process.
On Sunday, a group called “México Vigila” took on the task of observing the electoral process so that “it is legal and transparent” in the Mexican capital.
Marco Antonio Hernández, who is part of the group, called on public officials to guarantee the transparency of the elections.
“To all public officials and all federal employees, do not commit an electoral crime, do not be told that there are no corporal punishment or jail, that there are no fines and there are no disqualifications,” he added.
“To all public officials and all federal employees, do not commit an electoral crime, do not be told that there are no corporal punishment or jail, that there are no fines and there are no disqualifications,” he added.
López Obrador says goodbye to his position
In general, Mexicans’ perception of the quality of life is on the rise, as is optimism about the progress of the economy, which in 2023 reached record numbers in decades, according to the Gallup pollster.
At the same time, trust in institutions and government management is also experiencing a historic rise. According to Gallup53% of Mexicans approved of their country’s leadership, while 61% had confidence in their national government, “both record levels.”
AMLO says goodbye on a high note with an increase in levels of government trust, which has gone from 29% in 2018 when he took power to 60% in 2023. As a comparison, in the US this index is 30%, highlights Gallup .
AMLO has also seen personal approval numbers grow from 67% to 80% in 2022, which according to the prestigious Washington-based pollster, makes the Mexican president one of the most beloved leaders in the world. “Since Gallup began surveying Mexico in 2006, no other leader in the country has seen approval ratings this high,” the report insists.
Optimism, but…
Historically, Mexico has not registered high levels of confidence in the integrity of elections, demonstrated by the 19% of positive opinions between 2015 and 1019, figures that increased to 44% last year, another record according to Gallup, which however recognizes that the majority (55%) still have no faith in the electoral process.
Another element that worries Mexicans and has remained unchanged, despite improvements in other issues, is public safety. This is a perennial issue in these especially violent elections, in which some 30 candidate deaths have already been recorded. These numbers more than double if collaborators, party leaders and relatives of candidates are included.
Regarding insecurity, the ruling party’s candidate and AMLO protégé, Scheinbaum, plans to partially reverse the current president’s decision to militarize the fight against crime and violence, and instead reduce the power of the Armed Forces in favor of National Police.
The opposition Gálvez has promised a tough line against crime and said that if she comes to power she will take a leaf from Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s book and build a high-security prison like the one inaugurated in that Central American country.
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