Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s first woman president, won by a wide margin. She inherited the project of Andres Lopez Obrador who was her mentor. His popularity with the poor fueled her victory.

Sheinbaum is a former mayor of Mexico City and a climate scientist. According to the Mexican electoral authority’s rapid sample count, Sheinbaum won the presidency between 58.3%-60.7%. This is the highest percentage of votes in Mexico’s history.

According to the results provided by the Electoral Authority, the ruling coalition is also on course to achieve a super majority of two-thirds in both chambers of Congress. This would allow it to pass constitutional amendments without the opposition’s support.

Xochitl Galvez, the opposition candidate, conceded defeat when preliminary results showed that she had received between 26.6% to 28.6% of votes.

Sheinbaum said to a loud ovation of “president” from her supporters: “For the very first time in 200 years of Mexico’s republic, I will be the first female president.”

The victory of Sheinbaum represents a significant step forward for Mexico. A country that is known for its macho-culture and has the second largest Roman Catholic population in the world, Mexico has for many years promoted more traditional roles and values for women.

Sheinbaum was the first woman in history to win an election general in the United States of America, Mexico, or Canada.

Edelmira Montiel (87), a Sheinbaum-supporter from Mexico’s smallest State Tlaxcala, said: “I never thought that I would one day vote for a female.”

Before, we could not even vote and, when we did, you had to vote according to what your husband said. “Thank God, that’s changed. I get to experience it now,” Montiel said.

Sheinbaum faces a difficult road ahead. Sheinbaum must find a way to balance her promises of increasing popular welfare policies with inheriting a large budget deficit and low growth in the economy.

She told her supporters that after the preliminary results had been announced, her government would be fiscally accountable and respect the independence of the central banks.

She has promised to improve security, but she has provided few details. The election, which was the most violent in Mexico’s modern history, with 38 candidates killed, has only exacerbated the massive security issues. Analysts say that organized crime groups have grown and deepened in influence under Lopez Obrador.

Two people were also killed at voting stations in Puebla, which marred Sunday’s election. Over 185,000 people have died during Lopez Obrador’s mandate, more than any other Mexican administration during modern history. However, the homicide rates are slowly decreasing.

Sheinbaum is unlikely to see a significant increase in security unless she makes a major investment to improve policing, reduce impunity and strengthen the police. This was stated by Nathaniel Parish Flannery an independent Latin America Political Risk Analyst.

According to preliminary results, the MORENA party won also the Mexico City Mayorship race, which is one of the most important positions in the country.

U.S. RELATIONS

The new president will face a number of challenges, including tense negotiations over the massive flows of migrants heading to the United States who are crossing Mexico. He will also have to work with Mexico on security issues such as drug trafficking during a time in which the U.S. is ravaged by fentanyl.

Mexican officials believe that these negotiations will be more difficult in the event Donald Trump wins the U.S. presidential election in November. Trump has promised to impose 100% tariffs against Chinese cars manufactured in Mexico, and said that he will mobilize special forces to combat the cartels.

The next president in the United States will have to address electricity and water shortages, and convince manufacturers to relocate, as part of a trend called nearshoring, where companies bring their supply chains closer to the main markets.

Sheinbaum must also decide what to do about Pemex, a state-owned oil company that has been in decline for the past two decades. It is also drowning under debt.

Alberto Ramos is the chief Latin America economist for Goldman Sachs. He said: “It can’t be just that you pour public money into a pit and it never becomes profitable.” They have to rethink Pemex’s business model.

Lopez Obrador has doubled the minimum salary, reduced poverty, and overseen a strengthening of the peso as well as low unemployment rates. These successes have made him extremely popular.

Sheinbaum promised to expand welfare program, but it won’t be easy as Mexico is on track for an enormous deficit this year. The central bank expects a sluggish growth in GDP of only 1.5% by 2025.

Lopez Obrador has been looming over the campaign and trying to turn it into a referendum about his political agenda. Sheinbaum rejected claims from the opposition that she was a “puppet of Lopez Obrador”, even though she pledged to continue some of his policies, including those that helped Mexico’s most vulnerable.

Sheinbaum said that Lopez Obrador was “a person unique who has transformed our nation” in her victory speech.

Viri Rios, a political analyst, said that she believed sexism had been behind the criticisms that Sheinbaum would be a puppet for the outgoing leader.

She said: “It is unbelievable that people can’t believe that she will be making her decisions on her own. I think this has a lot of to do with being female.”