Mexico City: Four days after Mexico held presidential elections, government candidate Claudia Sheinbaum has been officially declared the winner, making her the first female president in the country’s history.
On Thursday, the electoral authority said that a former mayor of Mexico City, Sheinbaum, from the ruling left-wing Morena party, won 59.75 per cent of the votes.
Her rival, opposition candidate Xochitl Galvez, came in second with 27.45 per cent.
Jorge Alvarez, from the smaller centre-left Movimiento Ciudadano party, had always been seen as having no chance.
Almost 100 million citizens were eligible to vote to fill all seats in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, as well as regional and municipal posts, making it an election day of historic proportions.
While the final results of the parliamentary vote are still pending, Sheinbaum’s Morena party is projected to have garnered a solid majority.
The party is hoping to secure a two-thirds majority in both chambers to be able to single-handedly push through constitutional reforms, including the appointment of judges by direct vote, a plan that has critics fearing the democratic separation of powers in Mexico.
Following the election, the Mexican stock exchange suffered losses and the national currency, the peso, lost around 5 per cent of its value against the US dollar.
The 61-year-old is from the same party and a longtime ally of outgoing left-wing populist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
The popularity of the president, who was not allowed to run again after six years in office, helped the 61-year-old scientist to win the election.
Sheinbaum is expected to continue his policies, in particular, the popular state aid schemes for young and old people.
Although the opposition conceded defeat, it intends to file a complaint with the electoral court about alleged irregularities in the electoral process, denouncing Lopez Obrador’s undue interference and the use of state resources in favour of Sheinbaum.
(IANS)
