Mexico Decides Next President

Major candidates are women, setting up a first for the nation
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 2, 2024 11:15 AM CDT
Mexico Decides Scores of Races
Opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez speaks during her closing campaign rally in Los Reyes la Paz, on the outskirts of Mexico City, on Wednesday.   (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Mexicans will likely choose the first female president in the country's history Sunday between a former academic who promises to further the current leader's populist policies and an ex-senator and tech entrepreneur who pledges to up the fight against deadly drug cartels. Nearly 100 million people are registered to vote in the race to replace outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the AP reports. Voters also will elect governors in nine of the 32 states and choose candidates for both houses of Congress, thousands of mayorships, and other local posts, in the biggest elections the nation has seen.

Both major presidential candidates are women. A third candidate from a smaller party, Jorge Álvarez Máynez, trails far behind. Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum is running with López Obrador's Morena party. Sheinbaum, who leads in the race, has promised to continue all of his policies, including a universal pension for the elderly and a program that pays youths to apprentice. Opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez rose from selling snacks on the street to start her own tech firms. A candidate running with a coalition of major opposition parties, she left the Senate last year to focus her ire on López Obrador's decision to avoid confronting the drug cartels through his "hugs not bullets" policy. She has pledged to more aggressively go after criminals.

On the edge of Mexico City, electoral officials filed past 34-year-old homemaker Stephania Navarrete, who watched cameramen and electoral officials gathering Sunday where Sheinbaum was planning to vote. Navarrete said she planned to vote for her despite doubts about the party. "Having a woman president, for me as a Mexican woman, it's going to be like before when for the simple fact that you say you are a woman you're limited to certain professions. Not anymore." Early turnout appeared to be high in the capital, with long lines of voters under clear skies. Polls close at 6pm in most of the country, per the AP, and the first results are expected by 9.

(More Mexico stories.)

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