Mexicans attend a historic event this Sunday: elect for the first time a woman as president of this country bled by drug trafficking and gender violence.
(We recommend: Elections in Mexico: Claudia Sheinbaum or Xóchitl Gálvez, the scientific minds vying for the presidency, who is who?)
Just over 20,000 charges, including Congress and nine of 32 governorates, are also in dispute in these elections mourned by the murder of more than 20 candidates for local positions, according to the government. NGOs report thirty victims.
(You can read: Mexico: the politicians and candidates murdered during the wave of violence in these elections)
One of the most impactful crimes occurred on Wednesday, when cameras recorded the moment in which a hitman shot the head of Alfredo Cabrera, candidate for mayor of Coyuca de Benítez (south).
Who are the candidates?
Sober and impassive, Sheinbaum, 61 years old, she is a brilliant scientist whom her rival calls the “ice lady.” She seeks to become the first president of a sexist Mexico, full of tragedies and passions.
(You can read: Elections in Mexico: what the electoral ban is, restrictions, consequences and everything you need to know)
Both in her student militancy in the 1980s and in her first public position as Secretary of the Environment of Mexico City (2000-2006), she projected seriousness and focus. With an imperturbable face, she rarely smiled.
The campaign, however, revealed an affectionate and smiling woman who distributed kisses and hugs among thousands of supporters, and passionately defended the “fourth transformation”, a project of the outgoing president Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
(Also: How will the presidential election in Mexico impact Colombia and the region?)
While Galvez embodies a story of overcoming: that of a girl of indigenous origin who sold gelatin to overcome poverty, became a successful businesswoman and is now the opposition’s card to govern Mexico.
Born 61 years ago in Tepatepec, a rural community in the state of Hidalgo (center), her childhood was marked by domestic violence, with an alcoholic father, according to her and family members.
Gálvez is backed by a coalition of the traditional parties PAN, PRI (which governed for seven decades until 2000) and PRD.
Here we tell you minute by minute of this historic day for Mexico.
Elections suspended in two municipalities
A series of attacks and the presence of alleged criminals forced the authorities to suspend general elections in two municipalities in the Mexican state of Chiapas (south), bordering Guatemala. The regional Elections Institute (IEPC) reported this Saturday that there are no conditions for the installation of voting stations in the communities that make up Pantelhó and Chicomuselo, inhabited by about 63,000 people.
The challenges that the next president will have
The new president will also have the challenge of maintaining the social programs on which the outgoing president López Obrador bases his popularity, with a fiscal deficit of 5.9% and low growth (an average of 0.8% during the six-year term).
Another challenge will be the complex relationship with the United States, Mexico’s main trading partner, says Shifter.
In these elections, the left also seeks to expand the simple majority it has in Congress to approve a controversial justice reform, and will try to retain the mayor’s office of Mexico City, its bastion.
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