Claudia Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, has made history to become Mexico’s first-ever woman president after securing a landslide victory in the country’s presidential polls.
Building on her mentor and outgoing president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s popularity among the poor sections of society, Sheinbaum managed to secure 58.3% to 60.7% of the vote as reflected in a rapid sample count by the country’s electoral authority — the highest vote percentage in Mexico’s democratic history.
Opposition candidate Xochitl Galvez has conceded defeat after preliminary results showed her taking between 26.6% and 28.6% of the vote.
Furthermore, the ruling coalition was also on track for a possible two-thirds super majority in both houses of Congress allowing them to pass constitutional reforms without opposition support, according to the range of results given by the electoral authority.
“For the first time in the 200 years of the republic I will become the first woman president of Mexico,” Sheinbaum told supporters to loud cheers of “president, president”.
Her victory is a major step for Mexico, a country known for being the world’s second-biggest Roman Catholic population, which for years pushed more traditional values and roles for women.
Sheinbaum is the first woman to win a general election in the United States, Mexico or Canada.
