After the voting on Sunday, June 2nd, in Mexico, the exit polls, media, and the ruling party all declared Claudia Sheinbaum as the winner of the Mexican presidential election, making her the country’s first female president.
According to the exit polls conducted by the polling agency Parametria, Sheinbaum is predicted to win by a landslide with 56% of the votes, while the opposition party candidate, Xochitl Galvez, is estimated to have around 30% of the votes.
Four other exit polls also indicate that Sheinbaum will emerge victorious.
The leader of the ruling party, National Regeneration Movement (MORENA), Mario Delgado, also announced that Sheinbaum will win the election by a “significant margin.”
The ruling party also declared victory for its candidate in the race for Mexico City mayor, one of the most crucial elections in the country, but the opposition party has raised objections, claiming that their nominee emerged victorious in the race.
Preliminary results are expected to be announced in the coming hours. Galvez has not yet conceded defeat and has urged supporters to wait patiently for the official results. The winner will begin a six-year term on October 1st.
This election is the largest in Mexico’s history, with nearly 100 million eligible voters. Apart from electing the president, voters are also selecting the mayor of the capital city, eight state governors, and members of both houses of Congress, totaling 20,000 elected positions.
However, it is also one of the most violent contemporary elections in Mexico, with a total of 38 candidates killed, including one person who was shot dead on the Saturday evening before voting day.
On Sunday, there were two shooting incidents at polling stations in Puebla, each resulting in one fatality. Additionally, several other attacks occurred. These violent incidents have raised concerns that the intense clashes between drug cartels may be posing a threat to the democratic system.
In pre-election polls, Sheinbaum clearly led over her main rival, Galvez, and stated that she would combat organized violence and crime.
The incoming president will face challenges such as negotiating with the United States on the issue of large numbers of illegal immigrants crossing the US-Mexico border and collaborating on security issues related to drug trafficking.
The next president must also address issues of power and water resource shortages, and attract manufacturers to invest in Mexico.
Sheinbaum has promised to expand welfare programs, but Mexico is facing a significant fiscal deficit this year, and the central bank expects weak growth in the country’s GDP next year, at just 1.5%.