Claudia Sheinbaum wins Mexico's elections

The leftist candidate Claudia Sheinbaum swept the presidential elections in Mexico on Sunday. With the electoral authority count well advanced, more than 94 %, she would have obtained between 59 % and 60 % of the votes, which also means the biggest victory since 1982.

Far behind were Xóchitl Gálvez and Jorge Álvarez Máynez, who obtained 27% and 10%, respectively.

According to the website of the National Electoral Institute (INE), the number of tallies counted amounts to 94%, an approximate of more than 54 million votes.

Voz Media tells you what the more than foreseeable triumph of Claudia Sheinbaum means, whose victory will be made official next Wednesday, and which means a supposed continuity of the leftist policies of current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his party, the National Regeneration Movement (Morena).

Just hours after the polls closed, AMLO and other leaders of the Latin American left, such as Cuban dictator Miguel Díaz-Canel, rushed to greet the ruling party.

Xóchitl Gálvez also recognized Morena’s victory. "A few minutes ago I communicated with Claudia Sheinbaum to recognize the election results," said the senator this Monday during a speech in Mexico City.

President Biden also congratulated the victor in a statement, "I look forward to working closely with President-elect Sheinbaum in the spirit of partnership and friendship that reflects the enduring bonds between our two countries."

At Voz Media, we have narrated minute by minute the election day in Mexico with special programming on television, social media and our website. The special coverage continues throughout the day until Claudia Sheinbaum's official confirmation as the country's new president, which will culminate with her inauguration next October.

‘I will not let you down’

In her first speech as president-elect, Sheinbaum promised a crowd gathered in Zócalo Square that she was not going to let them down.

"We are going to govern for everyone," she assured before recalling that she had just become the first woman "recognized by the people for the highest honor."

She also promised to follow the path marked by AMLO, "an exceptional man, unique, who has transformed history for the better." Social programs, avoiding price hikes in electricity and fuel, "attention to the causes of insecurity" are some of the priorities Sheinbaum listed that will be undertaken by her new government, all aligned with the outgoing president's administration.

On ties with the United States, she assured that there will be a "friendly relationship." She added, "We will always defend the Mexicans on the other side of the border."

The new Congress

Morena also swept the congressional elections. According to preliminary results, the governing party came first in the elections for both chambers.

The president-elect's party obtained between 41.9% and 44% of the votes for the Senate, which translates into at least 57 seats. PAN obtained more than 15.8%, thus obtaining more than 19 seats. PRI won more than 15 senatorial seats, while the Green Ecologist Party won at least 10 and the Labor Party at least nine.

In the Chamber of Deputies, Morena obtained between 41% and 43% of the vote, thus obtaining between 233 and 251 seats. PAN was left with between 64 and 80, having obtained less than 18% of the vote, while PRI obtained between 30 and 40 deputies, the Green Ecologist Party, between 67 and 77, the Labor Party between 46 and 52, and the Party of the Democratic Revolution will have at most eight.

The ruling party takes Mexico City

The ruling party candidate Clara Brugada won Mexico City mayoral race. The capital has been governed by the left wing since 1997 and has been a fundamental place for aspiring presidential candidates, according to the official quick count released this Monday.

The new mayor obtained between 49% and 52% of the votes, informed the National Electoral Institute (INE).

"Today the majority of the population of Mexico City decided to continue building the fourth transformation,” said the leader, referring to the project undertaken by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Brugada will govern the city, which has 9.2 million inhabitants, until 2030.

An economist by profession, she has pledged to replicate the president's policies in the capital. She will become mayor after having governed Iztapalapa since 2018, a populous sector of the capital overwhelmed by crime and deficient services such as water.

Eight governor races are also being contested in these elections, in addition to thousands of positions in local congresses, city councils, municipal boards and mayoral offices.

Elections tinged with violence

The violence did not let up. On Sunday, local media reported two fatal shootings. A man and a woman were killed, according to the employers' confederation Coparmex, "as a result of electoral violence."

Other reports put the death toll at eight across the country.

Just one day earlier, INE announced that it would not open 222 polling stations due to security problems or social conflicts. Most of them were in Chiapas and Michoacán.

These days of violence culminate what some experts have described as the most violent electoral process in Mexico's modern history. A score of candidates were murdered, according to the government. Integralia Consultores put the figure at 34 dead.

The latest death, which does not appear in that count, was Israel Delgado Vega: candidate for trustee in Cuitzeo, Michoacán, murdered at the door of his house just hours before the elections were to begin.

Local and social media users also reported this weekend cases of violence around or inside polling stations, such as the burning of ballot boxes. Electoral crimes are punishable by local legislation with up to 15 years behind bars.