Mexican voters are expected to make history on Sunday by electing the first woman president, a milestone in a crime-ridden country where gender-based violence and discrimination have long been rife.
Ruling party candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, a former Mexico City mayor and scientist by training, had a 17 percent lead over main opposition rival Xochitla Galvez ahead of the election.
The only man running, centrist Jorge Alvarez Maynez, trailed far behind them as a particularly violent campaign season marked by a spate of candidate assassinations drew to a close.
This means that, barring a big surprise, a woman will almost certainly get the highest political position in Mexico, where around 10 women or girls are killed every day.
That perspective motivates other women to succeed and to think “yes, you can,” said Blanca Sosa, a 31-year-old store worker in Mexico City.
She expects Sheinbaum to continue the “good things” done by outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, such as pensions for the elderly and increased minimum wages.
Ricardo Sanchez, however, said he plans to vote for Galvez because of her “business vision.”
Obrador’s “policy of putting the poor first is to destroy us all so that we are poor, and then he gives us,” said the 55-year-old businessman in the northern city of Monterrey.
Sheinbaum, 61, owes much of his popularity to Lopez Obrador, a fellow leftist and mentor who has more than 60 percent approval but is only allowed to serve one term, Fena writes.
Photo: Britannica
