All-Women Presidential Race In Mexico

Claudia Shein­­baum – a Mexican politician, scientist, and academic, who served as Head of Government of Mexico City and Xóchitl Gálvez – a Mexican computer engineer, businesswoman and politician, who served as mayor of the Miguel Hidalgo borough of Mexico City, are the two leading candidates in Mexico’s presidential election. 

The upcoming Mexican general election will take place in Mexico on 2 June 2024. The voters in Mexico will elect a new president to serve a six-year term. The ruling Morena party and the main opposition coalition are fielding female presidential candidates for the upcoming election, which means Mexico is ready for an all-women presidential race.

Mexico will elect its first female president

Patricia Mercado, a senator with the Citizens’ Movement party, hailed the upcoming presidential election, saying “This is the product of decades of work.”

In Mexico, women first got the right to vote in 1953. Now, Mexico will get its first female president. The two women candidates support women’s rights, including abortion rights. 

Ana Lau Jaiven, feminist historian and research­er at Metropolitan Autonomous University in Azcapotzalco, said, “Both candidates give the image of being strong women.”

Women in Mexico’s parliament

In 1996, a 30 per cent quota for women in the parliament was recommended. However, the resolution was passed in 2002. Six years later, this quota was increased to 40 per cent. In 2014, this quota was increased to 50 per cent. 

In 2019, the same quota was applied to the judicial, executive, and legislative branches of the government. 

Claudia Shein­­baum is running for the ruling leftist Morena party. In September, Mexico’s ruling party said that former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum will be its 2024 presidential candidate.

Xóchitl Gálvez is the 2024 presidential candidate of an opposition alliance set to take on the country’s ruling party. After securing the nomination, she said, “Problems are not fixed with ideologies, they are fixed with solutions.”

It is not known which woman candidate would be the future President of Mexico, but it is certain that the future President of Mexico will be a woman.