Mexico prepares to elect its first female president with one candidate pledging to crack down on cartels and rival vowing to pursue populist politics
Mexican voters will decide on Sunday their next president, mainly between a former academic and an ex-senator who is also a technology entrepreneur.
About 100 million people are registered to vote in an election that will likely give the country its first female president and replace President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The election is widely seen as a referendum on López Obrador, a populist who has expanded social programs but has largely failed to reduce cartel violence in Mexico.
Leader and mayor of Mexico City Claudia Sheinbaum runs with the Morena party.
Sheinbaum has pledged to continue all of López Obrador’s populist policies, including a universal pension for the elderly and a program that pays young people to apprentice.
Opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez (left) and presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum (right)
Sheinbaum’s supporters crowd the Zocalo during her final campaign rally in Mexico City
Xochitl Galvezthe opposition presidential candidate, whose father was native Otomi, rose from selling snacks on the streets of her poor hometown to start her own tech companies.
As a candidate for a coalition of major opposition parties, she left the Senate last year to direct her anger at López Obrado’s decision to avoid confrontation with the drug cartels through his “hugs, not bullets” policy.
She has vowed to go after criminals more aggressively.
A third candidate from a smaller party, Jorge Álvarez Máynez, follows far behind.
Sheinbaum raises her arms after speaking at her final campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City
Galvez speaks during her final campaign rally in Los Reyes la Paz, on the outskirts of Mexico City
Ongoing cartel violence, which has seen dozens of local candidates killed in a wave of political violence, and Mexico’s mediocre economic performance are the main issues on voters’ minds.
This past election season, 145 people with racial connections were murdered across the country.
About 675,000 Mexicans living abroad are registered to vote, but only a small percentage have done so in the past.
However, total voter turnout has fluctuated around 60 percent in recent elections.
In addition to the battle for control of Congress, the race for Mexico City – whose top position is now considered equivalent to a governorship – is also crucial in these elections.
Galvez supporters chant her name at her final campaign rally
A Sheinbaum supporter takes a selfie with a campaign poster during her closing campaign rally
Sheinbaum is just the youngest of many Mexico City mayors, including López Obrador, who ran for president.
Several gubernatorial races in large, populous states such as Veracruz and Jalisco are also attracting interest.
In addition to presidential elections, there are a total of 20,000 congressional and local positions on residents’ ballots. NBC News reported. This includes 500 congressmen and 128 senators.
In most of the country, polls open at 8 a.m. today and close at 6 p.m.
The first provisional, partial results are expected at 9 p.m., after the last polling stations in different time zones have closed.