Mexico goes to the polls on Sunday and is preparing to elect, barring any drama, the first female president in the history of the country, plagued by violence linked to drug trafficking. The UN also counts around ten feminicides per day.
The favorite in this election is the candidate of the left in power, Claudia Sheinbaum, 61, ahead of her center-right rival Xochitl Galvez. The third candidate is Jorge Maynez, representative of the minority Citizen Movement party.
Violence overtook the election day in the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world, where elections are also taking place at the local level, with the assassination of a candidate for a mandate in the state of Michoacan (west).
Israel Delgado, 35, was shot and killed overnight from Saturday to Sunday. Before him, at least 25 candidates had been assassinated, according to AFP counts.
Lines in front of offices
From Cancun (south-east) to Mexico City, lines began to form as soon as the polling stations opened at 8:00 a.m. local time (4:00 p.m. Swiss time for Mexico City).
“I think it’s going to be historic in terms of participation,” says Ana Hernandez, a 28-year-old political scientist, in front of a polling station in the capital.
In three months of campaigning, Claudia Sheinbaum, of the Movement for National Regeneration (Morena) and former mayor of Mexico City (2018-2023), regularly beat Xochitl Galvez by an average of 17 points, supported by a coalition of three parties.
“A transformation”
Clemencia Hernandez, a 55-year-old housekeeper, is preparing to vote first. “A woman president will represent a transformation and let’s hope she does more for this country. Violence against women is 100% here,” she said.
She also wants to bring her vote to the outgoing left. “No government before has been so concerned about the elderly,” she argues, referring to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Eunice Carlos, a 70-year-old retiree who is waiting to vote in the residential district of Polanco, judges on the contrary that he was “a very harmful president, first of all because he divided us”. “My vote goes for democracy with Xochitl Galvez.”
20,000 positions are to be filled
Voters are also called upon to renew the Congress and the Senate, to choose governors in nine of the 32 states and to appoint local deputies and mayors.
In total, 20,000 positions are to be filled during these one-round elections. The first trends for the presidential election will be known a few hours after the polling stations close at 6:00 p.m. (2:00 a.m. Swiss time for Mexico).
“Women’s time”
“We are going to make history,” proclaimed Claudia Sheinbaum, buoyed by the popularity of the outgoing president, during her last campaign rally on Wednesday in Mexico City.
“It’s the time for women and transformation,” she said to Mexican women, who in unison denounce a macho society.
“It means living without fear and being free from violence,” added Ms. Sheinbaum. Every day, an average of nine to ten women are murdered in Mexico, according to UN Women.
Galvez bets on a “hidden vote”
Xochitl Galvez is banking on a “hidden vote” in her favor, which would have escaped the polls.
Of modest origin, this daughter of an indigenous father, business leader, denounced the failure of the security policy of the outgoing government, speaking of “186,000 people murdered and 50,000 people missing” since 2018.
Fight against cartels
The fight against the violence of cartels, gangs and gangs will be the first challenge for the future president, according to Michael Shifter, researcher at the Dialogo Interamericano analysis center, headquartered in Washington.
In total, some 450,000 people have been murdered since 2006, when former President Felipe Calderon sent the army against the cartels.
Ms. Sheinbaum promised to continue the current policy, which consists of tackling the causes of violence rather than all-repressive measures, while fighting against “impunity”. Ms. Galvez wants to put an end to the “accolades” to the cartels.
The “presidenta” will also have to consolidate the welfare state in a deteriorating budgetary context. Forecasts predict a deficit of 5.9% of GDP for 2024, the largest in decades.
Relationship with Washington
She will also have to manage the intense and complex bilateral relationship with the United States. Washington is asking Mexico to fight against trafficking in fentanyl, a synthetic drug that causes thousands of overdoses in the United States.
Mexico, for its part, has filed two complaints in the United States against American arms manufacturers, whom it accuses of being responsible for killings on its territory.
The two countries are facing the challenge of illegal immigration which is breaking records, with 2.4 million arrests on the United States side in 2023, according to American authorities.
The “presidenta” will then have to wait for the November election north of the Rio Grande to know whether her interlocutor will be the outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden or the Republican Donald Trump.
This article was automatically published. Sources: ats / blg / afp / belga
