Claudia Sheinbaum was elected Mexico’s first female president in a landslide on Sunday, according to an official rapid count of votes, confirming the dominance of the left-wing Morena movement, which has upended the country’s political establishment during the last six years.
Her win startled the opposition, who had accused Morena of undermining the country’s democratic institutions.
According to the National Electoral Institute’s results, the former mayor of Mexico City received more than 58% of the vote. Her victory secures another six years in power for Morena, which was formed 13 years ago by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a charismatic leader who has prioritized assisting the poor.
Sheinbaum, 61, an engineering professor and López Obrador’s protege, was set to eclipse even the enormous amount of votes he garnered in 2018, routing her main opponent, Xóchitl Gálvez, 2-1. It also seemed as though Morena and her friends will soon have a supermajority in Congress, giving them the power to amend the constitution.
In front of applauding guests at a hotel in Mexico City, a beaming Sheinbaum made an appearance. She declared, “This is a recognition of our national project by the people of Mexico.” She made an effort to reassure her detractors that she would not abuse her authority. “As Democrats, we firmly believe that we would never impose an oppressive or authoritarian system of governance.” Chants of “Presidenta! Presidenta!”—the feminine form of a term that has always been masculine—cut short her remarks.
