The polls have closed in Mexico in an election that will almost certainly see the country’s first female president elected.
Both the main candidate, Claudia Sheinbaum, and her main rival, Xóchitl Gálvez, are far ahead in the polls of the only male candidate, Jorge Álvarez Máynez.
Sheinbaum’s Morena party claimed victory on Sunday night and several media outlets have already declared her the presumptive winner – but have not provided numbers. Official results are expected on Monday.
Voters also elected all members of Mexico’s Congress and governors in eight states, as well as the head of Mexico City’s government, in a campaign marred by violent attacks.
The government says more than 20 local candidates were killed across Mexico, although private research puts the total at 37.
Two people were killed in two attacks on polling places in Puebla state on Sunday, authorities said.
Sheinbaum, a 61-year-old scientist who served as mayor of Mexico City from 2018 to 2023, has the support of outgoing president Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
López Obrador, who has been in power since 2018, cannot run again for the highest office since, according to Mexico’s constitution, presidents are limited to a single six-year term.
The popular leader – recent polls suggested he had an approval rating approaching 60% – instead supported Sheinbaum, who is part of his Morena party.
Although many of the promises made by President López Obrador upon taking office have not been fulfilled, his efforts to reduce poverty and help elderly Mexicans have been popular among the beneficiaries of these social programs.
Having the president’s support may have broadened Sheinbaum’s voter base considerably, but it has also raised questions about how independent she is from the sometimes overwhelming leader.
Sheinbaum stressed that she is her own man, while promising to continue to build on what she considers to be López Obrador’s many achievements.
Your party is proud of how millions of Mexicans have been lifted out of poverty over the past six years.
Morena says the number of people living in poverty is decreasing thanks to his policies, such as more than doubling the minimum wage.
But economists pointed out that there are also other factors at play, such as the increase in remittances sent by Mexicans living abroad to their friends and family back home.
Facing Sheinbaum at the polls is senator and businesswoman Xóchitl Gálvez.
Mrs. Gálvez, 61, was chosen by a broad coalition of parties that share the desire to end the Morena party’s dominance.
She and the Strength and Heart for Mexico coalition, for which she is running, criticized the increase in violence that the country suffered in the period leading up to the elections.
Speaking at her closing rally, she told Mexicans that if they voted for her they would have “the most courageous president, a president who stands up to crime.”
And although she has repeatedly ridiculed the strategy that López Obrador laid out at the beginning of his presidency, when he promised “hugs, not bullets” in the battle against crime, Gálvez has provided few details about how she would combat powerful criminal groups. who are behind much of the violence that plagues the country.
She said she would offer better pay to police and invest more in security in general.
But what likely made her more popular among voters critical of the outgoing president was her promise to strengthen institutions she says López Obrador tried to weaken, such as the Constitutional Court and the National Electoral Institute.
Gálvez accused López Obrador of being authoritarian and undermining Mexico’s democratic institutions, calling his government “arrogant and authoritarian.”
Polls closed at 6pm local time on Sunday (1am BST on Monday), and the winning candidate will take office at the end of September.
