Mexico will have its first female president in its 200-year history. The weekend presidential election was won by the candidate of the center-left Morena party Claudia Sheinbaum.
Sheinbaum, 61, received 58.3 percent of the total vote. Placed second Xóchitl Gálvez, she is also a woman, with 26 percent of the vote.
– We see a multi-voiced, diverse and democratic Mexico. Our mission is to take care of every Mexican, regardless of their background, Sheinbaum said in his victory speech.
– I want to thank the citizens of Mexico for recognizing the country’s history, results, conviction and will, but above all for supporting our national project. I am also grateful to be the first female president in the 200-year history of the Mexican state.
Sheinbaum’s speech caused supporters to break into loud presidential chants. Presidenta is the Spanish feminine form of the word president.
Strong showings in politics
Professor of world politics at the University of Helsinki Teivo Teivainen says that the political culture of Mexico has seen a significant change in recent years, when clearly more gender quotas have been introduced in the elections held in the country. It has increased the position of women as political leaders.
– Improving the status of women has also been part of the outgoing president’s welfare state-type program. For example, gendered violence is still common in Mexico.
Sheinbaum, who will become president, is an environmental scientist by training. Before running for president in the presidential election, he served as the mayor of Mexico City, the country’s capital.
– Especially the position of mayor of the capital has previously proven to be a good stepping stone on the way to the presidency, and he has quite strong evidence of acting as a political leader. He certainly also brings an expert voice to the international environmental debate.
Sheinbaum is known to be close to the outgoing president Andrés Manuel Lopéz to Obrador. The charismatic and popular president stood behind his former protégé during this election campaign, and it is his support that is believed to have helped Sheinbaum turn the country’s underprivileged voters to his side.
The most central promises of Sheinbaum’s campaign included the continuation of the policies promoted by Lopéz Obrador and the projects started by him.
Three key questions behind Sheinbaum’s success
According to Teivainen, Sheinbaum’s election victory on Sunday was expected. However, according to him, the clear margin of victory can be considered a small surprise.
The election results show that a clear majority of Mexicans trust Sheinbaum’s abilities to solve social problems important to the nation.
Teivainen raises three key questions about Sheinbaum’s election campaign.
1. Violence
Reducing violence was one of the key themes of the election. During Sheinbaum’s tenure as mayor of Mexico City, the number of homicides decreased somewhat in the capital. The outgoing president Lopéz Obrador has also said during his presidency that violent crimes would have decreased significantly at the national level.
– These screens were a clear trump card for Sheinbaum in the elections, Teivainen states.
2. Livelihood
The Mexican government is Lopez Obrador under his leadership, implemented major social policy reforms in the last six years, with the help of which they want to take the country in the direction of a Nordic welfare state, as it were. As a representative of the same party and a protege of Lopéz Obrador, Sheinbaum has promised to continue promoting the projects.
3. Relationship with the United States
Sheinbaum, who at one time graduated from the University of California with a doctorate, has emphasized the importance of good relations with the northern neighbor, the United States.
In recent years, for example, the United States has tried to reduce cooperation and investments in China. According to Teivainen, Mexico could attract more investments from the United States if it proves to be a more reliable partner than China.
The opposition fears centralization of power
Lopéz Obrador’s opponents have accused him of trying to undermine the country’s democratic institutions and centralizing power to the president.
According to Teivainen, the criticism is based, among other things, on Lopéz Obrador’s intentions to replace the country’s current election authority with a democratically elected election commission.
– This could have led to the election board mirroring the composition of the country’s administration in the future, if it is assumed that people would vote for the same parties in both elections. It would inevitably be a bad thing from the point of view of democracy, and the president was rightly criticized for it.
In her victory speech, Sheinbaum tried to appease her and her predecessor’s critics.
– We are democrats, and we would never form an authoritarian or oppressive government.
However, the election result may necessarily lead to a concentration of power. In connection with the presidential elections, parliamentary elections were also held in the country.
It is possible that the government coalition led by the ruling party Morena will get not only a simple majority but also a two-thirds qualified majority in the country’s parliament.
If the same group has the executive power of the president and a qualified majority in the parliament, it will be significantly easier to push through the reforms. According to Teivainen, this could be the biggest change brought about by the elections.