Election day in Mexico concluded late Sunday night and into early Monday morning (Jun. 2-3), with the ruling Morena Party's candidate, Claudia Sheinbaum, winning the race for the presidency in a landslide victory, making her the first female president in the country's 200-year history.
She is also the first woman to be elected to the United States, Mexico, and Canada presidency.
Landslide Victory
According to a quick count by Mexico's National Electoral Institute, Sheinbaum received about 57.79% of the vote, compared to her competitors, Xóchitl Gálvez and Jorge Álvarez Máynez, who only got 29.27% and 10.57%, respectively.
The electoral commission's results page said that over 35 million votes had been counted, and the Associated Press reported that nearly 100 million people were registered to vote for this year's elections.
Sheinbaum is set to replace outgoing president Andrés Manuel López Obrador as he cannot run again due to term limits.
In addition to her, over 20,000 local, state, and federal positions were also at stake, with Morena also winning the mayoralty of Mexico City.
Who is Claudia Sheinbaum?
Axios reported that Sheinbaum began her career as a climate scientist who significantly contributed to the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Her proposed climate policies are similar to or a continuation of AMLO's, as López Obrador is commonly called based on his initials.
She eventually became mayor of Mexico City before launching her presidential campaign.
Aside from climate policies, she would also have to tackle the problem of local crime, public unrest, and migration, especially with its shared border with the US.
Another strain in the US-Mexico diplomatic relations that she needs to tackle is the cooperation between the two countries in dealing with drug trafficking and the possibility of a second Donald Trump term.
While Morena is expected to keep its legislative majority, it would likely be by a small margin. This could pose a barrier to some of Sheinbaum's proposed constitutional reforms, such as changes in its Supreme Court and pension system and increasing the number of crimes for which people could be arrested indefinitely prior to trial.
However, Reuters reported that Morena and its coalition could jointly create a two-thirds supermajority in both houses of Congress.
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