Two women debate the future of Mexico

Mexico’s future begins this Sunday. And that future has a woman’s name on it. Mexicans are called to the polls to choose one Claudia SheinbaumCandidates of the ruling National Regeneration Movement (Morena) – along with its allies the Green Party and the Labour Party – and Xochitl Gálvezthe face of the common front Fuerza y ​​Corazón, which brings together the opposition in a PRI-PAN-PRD alliance. One of these two women will be first president of mexico,

Historical elections that are presented not as a battle between the programs of two candidates, but as a contest between referendum for or against of the shape of Andres Manuel Lopez Obradorwho cannot run for re-election, and his renewal project for Mexico. The appointment is presented as a vote of confidence in AMLO after a long 90-day countdown to the electoral campaign.

Sheinbaum, a doctor in energy engineering and former head of the Mexico City government, arrived on “D-day” as the favorite candidate to win these elections. Its main attraction is being the choice designated by López Obrador and the one designated to take Mexico to the second stage of the Fourth Transformation, AMLO’s self-proclaimed project to transform Mexico politically, socially and economically.

Morena’s base is confident that Sheinbaum will maintain some of AMLO’s most popular measures, such as cash social assistance. Claudia may not have the charisma of her leader, but everyone hopes she still has his checkbook. “AMLO will not be able to give good accounts in many areas, and it is difficult to find metrics to be proud of other than the increase in the minimum wage and the reduction in income poverty,” he says. dennis dresserAuthor of the book “What’s Next?”

Xochitl Gálvez is the current candidate of a fragmented, weak and blurred opposition. Without belonging to any party, she has been a senator for the last few years with the conservative National Action Party (PAN). The current of the progressive left, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the socialists of the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) have joined this strange alliance. It is as if in Spain the PP, PSOE and Sumar were united against a common opponent. A union that has no logic other than removing Morena from the institutions.

In the latest survey before the election, the ruling coalition Let’s Keep Making History leads the preferences with 51%, which means a drop compared to the April measure, which was 55%. The coalition led by Sheinbaum has been on a negative trend since last March, when the campaign began. Galvez, his main rival, is behind him with 39% of voting preferences in the May measure.

If he wins the election, little is known about what he will do if he becomes president. His main attraction is his personal story, a girl who grew up in a working-class family, with few resources and making her way in society through work and effort. A story that connects with many Mexicans.

The candidates have met in three election debates. More than an exchange of proposals and projects, these meetings, which also included the third candidate for the presidency, Jorge Álvarez Ménez (Citizens’ Movement), has been a festival of gestures, gestures, provocations and insults. Gálvez called Sheinbaum a “narco-candidate” in reference to the increase in violence and the soft strategy of “hugs not bullets” against organized crime. «The INE (National Electoral Institute) says I cannot call a narco-candidate a narco-candidate. I have been instructed to download these posts from my social networks. The good thing is that Mexicans already know the truth,” Gálvez announced to his followers.

Xochitl’s final insult to Claudia during the campaign was to call her a “copycat”. Galvez’s team noticed that the Morena candidate began wearing clothes with traditional Mexican motifs or embroidery, while Xochitl spent the entire campaign in popular Mexican tunics, huipils. The opposition candidate even accused her of ‘copying’ him for photos Pope Francis (without being Catholic) when she shared an image of the Holy Father himself. Finally, she “mimics” her campaign’s close in Mexico City’s Zocalo, after the opposition flooded it with their pink tide.

“With what criteria are we going to vote?” asks the political scientist and professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Javier Oliva Posada. In the absence of concrete plans or projects, this is where vote mobilization comes in, pushing citizens to vote based on incentives but without specific proposals. “This speaks of the civic underdevelopment of our society,” says Oliva Posada.

The opposition is trying to get higher participation. Big companies like Cinepolis or Starbucks, which have a presence across the region, along with many other local companies, are going to encourage voting by giving free movie tickets or coffee to every voter who shows their mark.

The certainty that Mexico’s next president will be a woman for the first time is accompanied by many unknowns. Will Sheinbaum differentiate herself from her leader and mentor AMLO? Will she be able to adopt his leadership style? If the surveys are correct, how will the opposition act? This is predictable, and if there is no clear electoral result, a period of challenges will begin. “It is absolutely unusual for a candidate in Mexico to accept his defeat. They adopt a ridiculous attitude. An hour after the polls close (in the polling headquarters) all the candidates come out to say they have won and this only leads to tension, aggressive attitudes and even blows. Mexican voters are not used to recognizing defeat not as a circumstance, but as a condition of life,” Oliva Posada concluded.