Mexico likely to have 1st female president as Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, Xóchitl Gálvez enter race
September 2023 so far has been a historic one for Mexico.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court decriminalized abortion, ruling that laws prohibiting the procedure are unconstitutional and violate women’s rights.
On the same day of this historic decision, the country's leading political parties ensured Mexico's upcoming presidential race would pit two women against each other, which could deliver Mexico's first female president come 2024.
Last week it was announced that Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo would be the presidential candidate of the governing party, the National Regeneration Movement (Morena), while Xóchitl Gálvez is the candidate for the Frente Amplio for Mexico, a coalition dubbed the "Broad Front for Mexico," which unites the conservative National Action Party (PAN), the small progressive Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), and the old-guard Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that held Mexico’s presidency without interruption between 1929 and 2000.
The 2024 presidential campaign trail is a long one — voting takes place on June 2, 2024 — but both Sheinbaum and Gálvez have stated that Mexico is ready to have a female president.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador expressed his unrestricted support for Sheinbaum during his routine morning news conference on Wednesday. “As I maintained from the beginning, I support Claudia Sheinbaum. I'm here taking a break, because I'm going to finish as a leader,” he indicated.
Likewise, the opposition established its confidence in Gálvez's victory. On X, formerly known as Twitter, the leaders of PAN, Marko Cortés, and PRI, Alejandro Moreno, said they were confident that Gálvez would defeat Sheinbaum in 2024.
“On this end, we advance united and strong. We are waiting for you in 2024… with what is left of Morena. We are going to beat them!” the PRI leader said.
Cortés said López Obrador would have to prepare to vacate his seat to Gálvez, "whether he likes it or not."
“In National Action, we are very happy because we are going to beat (Morena), because in 2024 we will have the first coalition government, with the best profiles of civil society and the parties of the Broad Front for Mexico, whether he likes it or not, Obrador will have to hand over the presidential sash to Xóchitl Gálvez," he said.
Major polls have put Sheinbaum ahead of Gálvez. According to the Latin American Strategic Center for Geopolitics, Sheinbaum would win by a wide margin. “MORENA registered a voting intention of 45.4%, while the opposition only (registered) 18.2%," according to the report.
According to pollster Demoscopia Digital, if elections were held today, Morena would win with 49.4 percent of the votes.
Who is Claudia Sheinbaum?
Sheinbaum was born in Mexico City on June 24, 1962. Her parents are Carlos Sheinbaum Yoselevitz, a chemical engineer, and Annie Pardo Cemo, a biologist, who participated in the progressive student movement of '68.
She has a degree in physics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, with a master's degree and a doctorate in energy engineering from the same school. She has worked as a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico Engineering Institute, is a graduate of the Advanced Studies Program in Sustainable Development at El Colegio de México and is a member of the National System of Researchers and the Mexican Academy of Sciences.
In 2000 she joined the work team of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who served as head of government of the then-Federal District — now officially recognized as Mexico City — and was appointed head of the Ministry of the Environment. Six years later she became a spokesperson for López Obrador's first Mexican presidential campaign and remained with him during the next two campaigns.
In 2014, she resigned from the PRD to join Morena. In 2015 she held the position overseeing the delegation of Tlalpan, a seat within Mexico City's mayor's office.
In 2018 she became the first woman to be elected head of government of Mexico City, a position she resigned from this year to run for president.
As a candidate for the Morena party — whose policies are characterized as left-leaning — Sheinbaum has identified herself as a feminist, an ally of the LGBTQ+ community and in favor of the rights of Indigenous peoples. In 2021, she removed a statue of Christopher Columbus in Mexico City.
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Who is Xóchitl Gálvez?
Gálvez was born in Tepatepec, Hidalgo, in 1963. She is the daughter of Heladio Gálvez, originally from the Otomí Indigenous peoples of the Mezquital Valley, and Bertha Ruiz.
She obtained her bachelor's degree in computer engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
In 1992, she founded the company High Tech Services, dedicated to the development of high-technology projects, building design, security and telecommunications. She later became general director of the company OMEI, dedicated to the maintenance of intelligent infrastructures.
During Vicente Fox's government's presidency (2000-2006), she was in charge of the Office for the Development of Indigenous Peoples. She established the National Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples, renamed the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples, of which she was the first director.
In 2015 she held the position overseeing the delegation of Miguel Hidalgo, a seat within Mexico City's mayor's office. She held that position until 2018.
On Sept. 1, 2018, she was appointed as a senator for PAN during the 66th legislative session in Mexico, a position that she currently holds. In 2021, she announced her move to PRD.
In 2023, she indicated that she would seek the position of head of government of Mexico City. However, her interest as a candidate for the Frente Amplio por México soon became known. She was chosen in early September as the candidate for the three-party coalition.
Her beginnings as a public official during the times of then-President Fox characterized her as a left-leaning political figure, in support of indigenous communities and critical of PAN and other conservative parties.
In 2022 she was accused by López Obrador of wanting to eliminate social programs. Since then, Gálvez has resorted to legal action to clear her name, requesting a session with the president. López Obrador has repeatedly denied this session.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Translation Joanna Jacobo Rivera