Left-wing government candidate Claudia Sheinbaum will become Mexico’s first female president after her rivals conceded in an election marred by political violence.
“I would like to thank the millions of Mexican women and men who voted for us on this historic day,” Sheinbaum said, as supporters gathered in Mexico City to celebrate with fireworks.
The 61-year-old led with 57.9% of the vote and about two-thirds of the votes counted, the national electoral institute said on Monday.
Her main rival Xochitl Galvez came in second with about 29%, the authority said, while Jorge Álvarez Máynez of the Citizens’ Movement came in third with 10.6%. The full results are expected on Wednesday.
Gálvez and Álvarez called Sheinbaum to congratulate her on her victory, the president-elect told the press. The former mayor of Mexico City will take office on October 1.
Incumbent Andrés Manuel López Obrador also congratulated Sheinbaum in a video message. “With all my affection and respect, I congratulate Claudia Sheinbaum. She will be the first female president of Mexico in the 200-year history of the republic,” he said.
López Obrador, who could not run for a second six-year term under the country’s constitution, had backed the 61-year-old Sheinbaum as his successor in the left-wing Morena party.
Previously, the announcement of the preliminary results was postponed several times.
“They lie as always,” Gálvez wrote on X before the first results were announced.
Gálvez, a businesswoman, computer engineer and former senator, was supported by the broad centrist opposition alliance Strength and Heart for Mexico, formed by the National Action Party (PAN), the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Party of the Democratic Revolution. PRD).
In addition to the presidency, Mexicans voted to fill all seats in the House of Representatives and Senate, as well as regional and municipal posts, making it an election day of historic proportions.
In total, more than 20,000 offices were up for grabs, including governorships in eight of the 31 states and in the capital district.
Election officials said Sheinbaum’s Morena Party also led the parliamentary elections.
Nearly 100 million citizens had the right to vote in the most populous Spanish-speaking country in the world.
The campaign period was overshadowed by political violence. At least 34 candidates have died since September, according to data from consultancy Integralia. Officials say criminal groups vying for influence in some regions were behind many of the attacks.
At least three people were killed in violent incidents at separate polling stations in the states of Puebla, Mexico and the outskirts of Monterrey on election day, according to media reports.
In the central state of Puebla, a polling station in the municipality of Tlapanalá failed to open after ballots were stolen, the electoral authority said.
Voting had to be interrupted due to violence in the city of Coyomeapan, while in the cities of Chicomuselo and Pantelhó in the southern state of Chiapas, elections were completely suspended due to the violence of the drug cartels in the region.
