The governing party called it a ceremonial passing of the baton. But the opposition lambasted it as a \u201cpassing of the scepter.\u201d <\/p>\n
Constitutionally barred from running for reelection, Mexican President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador sought to show last month, in a very public way, that presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum has his blessing. So he handed his hoped-for successor an actual baton, in a ceremony outside a Mexico City restaurant not far from the National Palace \u2013 the seat of the country\u2019s executive power. <\/p>\n
Sheinbaum, a 61-year-old former Mexico City mayor and longtime political ally of Lopez Obrador, hit all the right notes in thanking him. Accepting the baton along with the leftist Morena party\u2019s presidential nomination, Sheinbaum said she would assume \u201cthe full responsibility of continuing the course marked by our people, that of the transformation initiated by President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador.\u201d <\/p>\n
When Mexicans go to the polls next June, they will choose between two women for president \u2013 a first in the country\u2019s history. Only four days before Morena nominated Sheinbaum, Mexico\u2019s opposition coalition Broad Front chose another formidable female candidate, former senator Xochitl G\u00e1lvez from the conservative PAN party. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s not the first time Mexico sees women running for the presidency; before Sheinbaum and G\u00e1lvez, were six other female presidential candidates. But with the two major political sides nominating women, this is the first time that it\u2019s practically a given that starting in December 2024, Mexico, a country previously known for machismo, will be run by a woman. <\/p>\n
Still, some critics say the outgoing Lopez Obrador\u2019s shadow looms over the contest. <\/p>\n
G\u00e1lvez\u2019s rise in Mexican politics has been meteoric; this spring, she said she wasn\u2019t even the favorite of the PRI, PAN and PRD, the parties that now form the Broad Front coalition. It was a public spat with Lopez Obrador himself \u2013 who regularly attacked her as a \u201cwimp,\u201d \u201cpuppet,\u201d and \u201cemployee of the oligarchy\u201d in news conferences \u2013 that ultimately rocketed her into the spotlight. <\/p>\n
In June, G\u00e1lvez went viral when she attempted to enter the National Palace with a judicial order that granted her the right to reply to the president, after successfully suing L\u00f3pez Obrador. \u201cThis is not a show,\u201d she told reporters at the doors of the National Palace. \u201cThe law is the law, period.\u201d <\/p>\n
In some respects, she appears progressive. G\u00e1lvez has advocated in the Mexican Congress for the rights and welfare of indigenous groups and Afro-Mexicans, and in a regional forum earlier this year in Monterrey, said that oil-rich Mexico should shift to renewable energy. \u201cWe haven\u2019t done it because we are dumbasses,\u201d G\u00e1lvez unapologetically said. <\/p>\n
She has also said leftist Lopez Obrador\u2019s pension for all senior citizens should continue, and proposes what she calls a \u201cuniversal social protection system\u201d of welfare programs for a large portion of the middle and lower classes. <\/p>\n
But when it comes to security and the fight against organized crime, G\u00e1lvez\u2019s three-pronged plan is muscular, based on what she describes as \u201cintelligence, heart and a firm-hand\u201d: strengthening local and state police and giving them access to intelligence, advocating for and protecting victims, and respecting the rule of law. <\/p>\n
Macario Schettino, a political analyst and Social Science professor at ITESM, a renowned Mexican university, describes G\u00e1lvez\u2019s political momentum as impressive, considering that only a few months ago, she wasn\u2019t even considered a candidate with a national profile. \u201cShe barely begun to register in political terms, and she\u2019s already had great growth. Many people in Mexico still don\u2019t know her. She is going to grow [..] in popularity,\u201d Schettino said, \u201cWhile Claudia Sheinbaum can no longer move from where she is because she is already known by most Mexicans.\u201d <\/p>\n
Sheinbaum, a physicist with a doctorate in environmental engineering, would also be the first president with Jewish heritage if she wins, although she rarely speaks publicly about her personal background and has governed as a secular leftist. <\/p>\n
She is currently ahead in most polls, and will be a formidable opponent to beat. Not only does Sheinbaum have the full support of the governing party, she has also long enjoyed the spotlight as mayor of Mexico\u2019s most important city for the last five years until her resignation in June to run for the presidency. <\/p>\n
On policy, Sheinbaum has vowed to continue many of Lopez Obrador\u2019s policies and programs, including a pension for all senior citizens, scholarships for more than 12 million students and free fertilizers for small farm owners. But the high-profile ex-mayor rejects criticism of her close political alignment with the president. \u201cOf course we\u2019re not a copy (of the president),\u201d she said in July. <\/p>\n
Still, she does not shy away from touting the principles they share: \u201cFor everybody\u2019s good, let\u2019s put the poor first. There cannot be a rich government if the people are poor. Power is only a virtue when it\u2019s used to serve the people,\u201d Sheinbaum said, repeating the same campaign slogans Lopez Obrador has used for years. <\/p>\n
Schettino believes the immensely popularly Lopez Obrador views Sheinbaum as his extension in power. He points to their party Morena\u2019s roots in the authoritarian Institutional Revolutionary Party that governed Mexico for more than seven decades until 2000, which came to be known as \u201cThe Dinosaur,\u201d and the Party of Democratic Revolution that branched off from it. <\/p>\n
In 2012, Lopez Obrador created Morena as a political party. Schettino describes the party today as a \u201ctyrannosaurus\u201d under Lopez Obrador\u2019s influence \u2013 representing what he says is the current leader\u2019s desire for a successor to hew closely to his own agenda. \u201cPresident L\u00f3pez Obrador, a dinosaur who not only is a dinosaur, but also has the vocation of a tyrant. He doesn\u2019t want to go. He wants to stay in power,\u201d Schettino said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI believe that he built Claudia\u2019s candidacy,\u201d Schettino said. <\/p>\n
L\u00f3pez Obrador however has repeatedly dismissed accusations of authoritarian leanings or that he favors a candidate he will be able to control. Earlier this year, Lopez Obrador denied he had any favorites among his party\u2019s hopefuls or that he was pushing for one candidate or another behind the scenes. <\/p>\n
He has also said that he is going \u201cretire completely\u201d after his six-year term in office comes to an end. \u201cI am retiring, I will not participate in any public event again, of course. I am not going to accept any position, I do not want to be anyone\u2019s advisor, much less am I going to act as a chief. I am not going to have relations with politicians. I am not going to talk about politics,\u201d the president told press in February. <\/p>\n\n
The governing party called it a ceremonial passing of the baton. But the opposition lambasted it as a \u201cpassing of the scepter.\u201d Constitutionally barred from running for reelection, Mexican President Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador sought to show last month, in a very public way, that presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum has his blessing. So he handed <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":9664,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9663","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}