A younger man helps an older girl solid her vote at a polling station in the course of the normal election in Mexico Metropolis on June 2, 2024. Mexicans go to the polls to elect its first girl president with the 2 front-runners -ruling-party candidate Claudia Sheinbaum and opposition hopeful Xochitl Galvez, each 61- looking for to interrupt the glass ceiling in a rustic with a historical past of gender violence and inequality. (Picture by EDUARDO MEJIA / AFP)
MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Mexicans have been anticipated to make historical past Sunday by electing their first girl president — a milestone in a rustic stricken by rampant legal and gender-based violence.
Voters flocked to polling stations throughout the Latin American nation, regardless of sporadic violence in areas terrorized by ultra-violent drug cartels.
Hundreds of troops have been deployed to guard voters, following a very bloody electoral course of that has seen greater than two dozen aspiring native politicians murdered.
READ: Insecurity: the large problem for Mexico’s subsequent president
Ruling occasion candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, a former Mexico Metropolis mayor and a scientist by coaching, had a 17 share level lead over her principal opposition rival Xochitl Galvez in opinion polls forward of the vote.
“It’s a historic day. I really feel very pleased,” Sheinbaum, 61, stated as she left her residence.
After casting her poll, the presidential front-runner revealed that she had not voted for herself however for a 93-year-old veteran leftist, Ifigenia Martinez, in recognition of her battle.
“Lengthy dwell democracy!” Sheinbaum declared.
Galvez, a 61-year-old outspoken senator and businesswoman with Indigenous roots, stated after voting that she anticipated a “enormous participation” within the election.
“What I would love most is that no Mexican needed to go overseas to search for alternatives,” she added.
The one man working, long-shot centrist Jorge Alvarez Maynez, was trailing far behind in polling.
It implies that, barring an enormous shock, a girl is nearly sure to interrupt the very best political glass ceiling in Mexico, the place round 10 girls or women are murdered each day.
On this aerial view individuals queue to vote at a polling station within the Cabañas Cultural Middle in the course of the normal election in Guadalajara, Jalisco state, Mexico, on June 2, 2024. Mexicans voted Sunday in a presidential election dominated by two girls — a historic first in a rustic stricken by rampant legal and gender-based violence. (Picture by Ulises Ruiz / AFP)
‘Transformation’
“A feminine president can be a metamorphosis for this nation, and we hope that she does extra for girls,” stated Clemencia Hernandez, a 55-year-old cleaner in Mexico Metropolis.
“Many ladies are subjugated by their companions. They’re not allowed to go away residence to work,” she stated.
Daniela Perez, 30, stated that having a girl president could be “one thing historic,” despite the fact that neither of the 2 principal candidates was “completely feminist” in her view.
“We’ll must see their positions on enhancing girls’s rights, resolving the problem of femicides — which have gone loopy — supporting girls extra,” added the logistics firm supervisor.
Practically 100 million individuals have been registered to vote on the earth’s most populous Spanish-speaking nation, residence to 129 million individuals.
Polling stations started closing at 6:00 pm (2300 GMT) within the southeastern state of Quintana Roo and a few areas close to the US border, with different areas in several time zones as a consequence of observe later.
Sheinbaum owes a lot of her reputation to outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a fellow leftist and mentor who has an approval score of greater than 60 % however is barely allowed to serve one time period.
Reina Balbuena, a 50-year-old avenue meals vendor, stated she voted for Sheinbaum as a result of the ruling Morena occasion “has given loads of assist to older adults, to youngsters.”
In a nation the place politics, crime and corruption are carefully entangled, drug cartels went to excessive lengths to make sure that their most well-liked candidates win.
Hours earlier than polls opened, a neighborhood candidate was murdered in a violent western state, authorities stated, becoming a member of not less than 25 different political hopefuls killed this election season, in response to official figures.
Within the central Mexican state of Puebla, two individuals died after unknown individuals attacked polling stations to steal papers, a neighborhood authorities safety supply instructed AFP.
Voting was suspended in two municipalities within the southern state of Chiapas due to violence.
(COMBO) This mix of recordsdata footage created on Might 27, 2024 reveals Mexican leftist presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum (L) talking in the course of the signing of the “Pact for Early Childhood” on the Papalote Museum in Mexico Metropolis on April 22, 2024, and Mexico’s presidential candidate for the Fuerza y Corazon por Mexico coalition occasion Xochitl Galvez talking on her arrival to attend the third presidential debate forward of the June 2 nationwide elections in Mexico Metropolis, on Might 19, 2024. Mexico is on the right track to elect its first girl president on June 2, 2024, with two front-runners competing to interrupt the very best political glass ceiling in a rustic with a historical past of gender violence and inequality. (Picture by ALFREDO ESTRELLA / AFP)
‘Hugs not bullets’
Sheinbaum has pledged to proceed the outgoing president’s controversial “hugs not bullets” technique of tackling crime at its roots.
Galvez has vowed a harder method to cartel-related violence, declaring “hugs for criminals are over.”
Greater than 450,000 individuals have been murdered and tens of 1000’s have gone lacking for the reason that authorities deployed the military to battle drug trafficking in 2006.
The following president will even must handle delicate relations with the neighboring United States, particularly the vexed problems with cross-border drug smuggling and migration.
Sheinbaum had the backing of 53 % of voters as campaigning drew to an in depth, in response to a ballot common compiled by analysis agency Oraculus.
Galvez, who usually evokes her childhood story of rising up in a poor, rural city in central Mexico, was second with 36 %. Maynez, 38, had simply 11 %.
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In addition to selecting a brand new president, Mexicans voted for members of Congress, a number of state governors and myriad native officers — a complete of greater than 20,000 positions.
