Historic Mexican Election Results in First Female President-Elect
The main candidates for Mexico's upcoming election are women: Claudia Sheinbaum from the leftist Morena party and Xochitl Gálvez, representing the conservative PAN party and a coalition of opposition parties. There's also Jorge Álvarez Máynez, the youngest in the race, who's running for the center-left Citizens’ Movement.
This Sunday marks the country's largest election yet, with over 98 million registered voters and 1.4 million abroad eligible to vote. More than 20,000 positions will be filled by the estimated 70,000 candidates vying for roles as senators, mayors, and governors.
The current President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who mentored Sheinbaum, voted and told supporters to do the same. Sheinbaum praised the event as historical and expressed her happiness. Meanwhile, Gálvez stayed calm, stating her excitement about the high voter turnout while expecting a long, close race.
Polls opened at 8 a.m. and closed at 6 p.m., as reported by Mexico's National Electoral Institute (INE). However, certain voting stations across the nation faced delays in opening, resulting in long lines in Mexico City, Yucatán, Tuxtla, Cuauhtémoc, and at international polling centers.
Some voters voiced their frustration, especially those with work commitments and a fixed time frame for voting. One woman in Mexico City, after waiting 40 minutes, claimed she wouldn't be able to vote before the 6 p.m. closure.
Multiple challenges lie ahead for whoever takes office after this election, including public security, organized crime, energy, immigration, and strengthening the US-Mexico relationship. Many voters expressed concern about their safety at polling stations, given the high levels of violence during this election - the nation's bloodiest.
Two minutes of silence were held by the INE's advisers to honor those killed during the electoral period. Despite a slight decrease in the murder rate between 2019 and 2022, Mexico's yearly homicide count still skyrocketed to around 30,000 people, according to experts.
Sheinbaum and Gálvez have mainly stayed silent on their approaches to security, with both opting to maintain the existing two-decade-long reliance on the military to combat organized crime. The next president will need to address the lack of accountability in Mexico, where almost all 95% of all reported crimes in 2022 went unresolved, as per the think tank Mexico Evalua.
Given the current immigration crisis at the US-Mexico border, the outcome of this Mexican election is closely watched by US officials. The Biden administration relies heavily on Mexico to increase their efforts in immigration enforcement and reduce migration to the border. Confusion has spread amongst some officials on possible changes in border cooperation if a new president is elected.
“Regardless of the elections in Mexico or the US, uncertainty always arises. That's particularly true for the migrant population,” a Homeland Security official previously shared with CNN.
1 https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/05/americas/mexico-presidential-election-gana-l Fitzpatrick, Nicole; Abrams, Chris
2 https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/most-mexico-presidential-candidates-un convinced-may-times-receive-pensions-2022-06-01/3 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/05/31/world/americas/mexico-elections-charting-security-determination-murder-rates.html4 https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/homicides-mexico-fall-2021-2022-compared-to-2020-even-though-us-border-2022-02-09/5 https://www.npr.org/2022/05/30/1103352138/mexico-votes-suzanne-gamboa-transcript
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The historic election results in Mexico have the potential to impact the women's representation in leadership roles not only within the Americas but also on the world stage. Despite Mexico's role as a neighbor and key partner in addressing issues such as immigration and security, the outcome of its presidential election is causing uncertainty among US officials.
