MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mexico's next president will be a woman

The granddaughter of Jewish families from Bulgaria and Lithuania, Sheinbaum calls herself “a daughter of '68”

Former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum has been appointed to run for president on behalf of the ruling National Regeneration Movement (Morena) Party in 2024. Sheinbaun was elected through a controversial process of surveys which ended up showing she had about 40% of the voting intention. Sheinbaum's main rival in the primaries, former Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard, questioned the validity of the mechanism.

It will be the first time two women vie for the presidency after a coalition of opposition parties picked Senator Xóchitl Gálvez as their candidate last Sunday.

Morena's National Council Chairman Alfonso Durazo read out the results of the five polls that defined the candidacy. “The integral analysis of these data allows us to conclude in an unobjectionable way that comrade Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo obtained the best positioning to be considered as coordinator of the committees for the defense of the fourth transformation,” he said.

“I feel proud, honored. We have been part of this movement since its foundation,” Sheinbaum said. Joining forces with Morena are the Labor Party and the Green Ecologist Party of Mexico.

“The wise people have elected comrade Claudia Sheinbaum to coordinate the Committees for the Defense of the Transformation towards 2024,” Morena's social networks announced as soon as the results of the poll were known.

“If the procedure is not reinstated, if this poll is not done well, then we are not fulfilling the objectives we have set, even if it favors me,” argued Ebrard, who finished second with around 25% support as per the party's poll.

Frictions between Ebrard and Sheinbaum represent a test of unity for Morena, favorite for the 2024 elections, majority in Parliament, and ruling in 23 of Mexico's 32 states.

President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) boasted Tuesday that he had not “tipped the scales” in favor of any contender. “In the end, it is the citizens who are going to decide, so they took my recommendations into account and that's it, everything has gone well and I hope that today when they announce the result I will find out the same as you,” said the president in his morning press conference.

The granddaughter of Jewish ancestors from Bulgaria and Lithuania, Sheinbaum calls herself “a daughter of '68” much involved in social struggles and having never belonged to the PRI, the old hegemonic party for 70 years in the 20th century. Stemming from the capital's intellectual bourgeoisie, Sheinbaum promises to continue López Obrador's policies, limited to a single six-year term, according to the Constitution. She claims she will defend the poorest, including indigenous communities, and celebrates the good macroeconomic results of the current government.