The Mexican electorate confirmed this Sunday at the polls what the polls anticipated months ago and brought to power Claudia Sheinbaum, 61, a scientist who will be the first president of Mexico. The overwhelming victory of the progressive candidate, about 30 points ahead of the conservative opposition candidate, Xóchitl Gálvez, consolidates the dominance of the left in Latin America, with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in Brazil; Gustavo Petro, in Colombia, and Gabriel Boric in Chile. The victory of Sheinbaum, political heir of Andrés Manuel López Obrador and now the banner of his Democratic Regeneration Movement (Morena), also means a commitment to continuity after a long season in which Latin American voters insisted on change and elected the candidate against the ruling party.
Argentina, with the ultraliberal and far-right president Javier Milei, became the exception at the end of 2023 among the five large economies of Latin America, which now strengthens the turn towards leftist positions after a five-year period of right-wing primacy. Milei, together with the Salvadoran Nayib Bukele, whose inauguration he attended this Saturday, are the ultra front of the region. But in a few months they could receive a priceless reinforcement.
The future Mexican president will assume power on October 1, shortly before the United States holds momentous elections, for the continent and the rest of the world, in which she will decide whether to stay the course, with Democrat Joe Biden, or take a new swing to the populist right with a second term for Republican Donald Trump, now convicted. “The best thing is to have a very good relationship with the United States Government, whether President Trump or Biden,” Sheinbaum said a few days ago in an interview with EL PAÍS.
Also on the horizon, the presidential elections in Venezuela, scheduled for July 28, have enormous potential to deepen divisions among Latin American progressives and generate internal conflicts. Chavismo’s recent decision to withdraw the invitation to European Union observers, together with the persistent harassment of the opposition, have further strained the atmosphere.
Shienbaum arrives at the Presidency for the next six-year term at the hands of López Obrador, with the baggage of having governed Mexico City and with an even more comfortable victory than the one achieved by him in 2018. No other Mexican president has been as voted as she. And, like her mentor, the future president-elect will hold immense power with the capital government, which will be led by another leftist, Clara Brugada, the majority of state governments and, even more crucial if the first projections are confirmed, with qualified majorities in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate.
overwhelming result
A truly overwhelming result that offers Sheinbaum a peace of mind that other progressive Latin American presidents will undoubtedly envy. Unlike Lula or Boric, Morena has faced in these elections not a candidate from the extreme right, such as Jair Bolsonaro or José Antonio Kast, but Xóchitl Gálvez, a conservative and smiling businesswoman, elected by a coalition of political parties. traditional.
From their different ideological positions, the Mexican groups united to try to stop Morena’s steamroller, but they have not yet succeeded. López Obrador’s successes in the fight against poverty and economic prosperity—with echoes that refer to Lula’s first terms in Brazil—have weighed more on voters’ decisions than the very serious problems of violence.
Brazilian Lula is navigating this third term against the wind because he won but by the slightest and without a majority in Congress, so the Government is subject to laborious negotiations to move forward with each of its projects.
Petro made history by becoming Colombia’s first left-wing president and naming a black woman, Francia Márquez, as vice president. But his management is dotted with obstacles and setbacks. Boric’s arrival at the Moneda Palace was a breath of fresh air due to his youth and his firmness in defense of human rights, whether they are violated by ideological allies or by leaders in the antipodes. The Chilean president has faced numerous crises, especially in the area of public security. And now he is trying to take back the initiative with an abortion law and another on euthanasia.
“Mexico elected a progressive as the first president in its history,” Colombian Petro highlighted in his congratulations. Sheinbaum takes up the baton of other leaders such as Violeta Chamorro (Nicaragua), Dilma Rousseff (Brazil), Michelle Bachelet (Chile), Cristina Fernández (Argentina)… or Xiomara Castro, president of Honduras, who congratulated the Mexican as a pioneer in pioneer. The Mexican will govern a country where women have held half of the parliamentary seats during the six-year term that is now ending.
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