Mexico’s presidential election winner Claudia Sheinbaum on Sunday said her two competitors had called her to concede.
Speaking in Mexico City shortly after electoral authorities announced a statistical sample that showed she holds an irreversible lead, Ms Sheinbaum said: “I will become the first woman president of Mexico ... We have demonstrated that Mexico is a democratic country with peaceful elections.”
Ms Sheinbaum, the ruling party candidate, secured a landslide victory, capitalising on outgoing president Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s popularity.
The former mayor of Mexico City and candidate for the ruling Morena party is projected to receive between 58 per cent and 63 per cent of the vote, according to three exit polls. Xochitl Galvez, representing a coalition of opposition parties that had ruled the country for nearly 90 years, is estimated to obtain between 27 per cent and 30 per cent.
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The task facing the scientist-turned-politician is daunting, however, as she inherits rampant criminal violence and a large fiscal deficit left by Mr López Obrador’s government.
Mr López Obrador allowed drug cartels to expand their influence across Latin America’s second-biggest economy, resulting in record murder rates. He also went on a spending spree toward the end of his mandate, writing out welfare checks that made him a hero to the working poor but left the country saddled with the largest fiscal deficit since the 1980s.
The challenge for Ms Sheinbaum (61) is that she owes Mr López Obrador her victory and now needs to tread carefully around his legacy. Mr López Obrador has an approval rating of about 60 per cent, meaning he could have easily won the vote if the constitution did not bar presidents from seeking reelection.
Although Ms Sheinbaum pledged on the campaign trail to follow his vision, she cannot afford to leave a public security crisis to fester. Mexico’s largest-ever elections were also the deadliest in its modern history.
Moreover, amid a weakening economy, she must also find a permanent fix for state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos, the world’s most indebted oil company, which has become a drag on public finances. Rating firms have already warned that no action could cost Mexico its investment grade.
Her wide lead will give her some room to manoeuvre. It suggests that Morena and its allied parties are poised for a strong legislative performance, likely maintaining control of both houses of congress and perhaps even obtaining two-thirds of the seats. A supermajority gifts her the power to approve constitutional changes that have eluded Mr López Obrador. – Bloomberg