Claudia Sheinbaum made history by becoming Mexico’s first female president.
According to a rapid sample count by Mexico’s electoral authority, this marks the highest vote tally percentage in Mexico’s democratic history.
Meet Mexico’s first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum:
On today’s The Briefing episode, we’re joined by Luis Gomez Romero from Wollongong University to discuss how and why Ms Sheinbaum won, and what it means for the people of Mexico.
Ms Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, will also become the country’s first Jewish president.
Opposition candidate Xochitl Galvez received between 26.6 per cent and 28.6 per cent of the vote and conceded defeat to Sheinbaum.
“For the first time in the 200 years of the republic, I will become the first woman president of Mexico,” Ms Sheinbaum said.
Mexico’s largest elections were marred by violence, with 38 candidates killed, including a local candidate fatally shot on Saturday night.
On election day, two voters were shot dead, and voting was suspended at a polling place in Comeyoapan after a fatal shooting.
Mr Romero said Sheinbaum’s victory is a significant milestone for Mexico, a country known for its macho culture and the world’s second-largest Roman Catholic population.
“She got 58 per cent of the votes, and the candidate of the opposition who was trailing her got around 30 per cent of the votes. So if you think about it, the 90 per cent of Mexicans voted for a woman,” he said.
“So it seems now that Mexican society has changed for good in that aspect.”
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