Mexico: Sheinbaum Receives 59.75% of Vote
She is the country's first woman president and the most voted in history
On June 2, vote counting was completed in Mexico. Claudia Sheinbaum, who was already leading in the pre-election polls, won an overwhelming majority with 35.92 million votes in Mexico’s presidential election, a 59.75% majority, a record not only for Mexico but for all of North America, and the first president of Jewish descent: her maternal family emigrated from Lithuania in the early 20th century when her paternal grandparents arrived from Bulgaria in the ’40s, fleeing Nazi persecution.
Thus, the votes in Mexico went to the leftist candidate who will lead the country for the next six years with President López Obrador, whose political heir is Sheinbaum.
For the 61-year-old Sheinbaum, this is another historic milestone, because already in 2018, she became the first woman elected head of government in Mexico City. The coalition that backed her, formed by the Morena, PT, and PVEM parties, received 59.75% of the vote, while Xóchitl Gálvez, who leads the conservative party backed by PAN-PRI-PRD, received 16.5 million votes, which is 27.45%, while Jorge Álvarez Máynez of the Civic Movement ended up third, receiving 6.2 million votes (10.3%).
“For the first time in the 200 years of the Republic, I will be the first woman president of Mexico. I’m here not alone, I’m here with everyone. I am with the heroines who gave us our homeland, with our ancestors, our mothers, our daughters, and our granddaughters,” Sheinbaum said before the final recount of nearly 70% of the ballots, further increasing her lead over her rivals.
Her coalition also won administrative elections in Mexico City with Clara Brugada and in the states of Chiapas, Morelos, Puebla, Tabasco, Veracruz, and Yucatán, while in Jalisco it is going toe-to-toe with the opposition, and there will be a recount.
The problems Sheinbaum faces are significant, particularly the problem that has always been central to Mexico: the fight against the drug cartels, whose presence was particularly felt in the last electoral round. According to ilpost.it, on the eve of the election, 32 candidates were killed for political reasons, even 100 if their family members or employees are included; 560 people were victims of politically motivated violent attacks.