Mexican voters are all set to choose their next president on Sunday – primarily between a former academic and an ex-senator who is also a tech entrepreneur.
About 100 million people are registered to vote in an election that will likely give the country its first female president and replace President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
The elections are widely seen as a referendum on López Obrador, a populist who has expanded social programs but largely failed to reduce cartel violence in Mexico.
The favorite and mayor of Mexico City, Claudia Sheinbaum, is running with the Morena party.
Sheinbaum has promised to continue all of López Obrador’s populist policies, including a universal pension for the elderly and a program that pays young people for apprenticeships.
Opposition presidential candidate Xochitl Galvez (left) and presidential frontrunner Claudia Sheinbaum (right)
Sheinbaum supporters invade the Zocalo during his closing campaign rally in Mexico City
Xóchitl Gálvez, the opposition presidential candidate, whose father was an indigenous Otomi, went from selling street snacks in her poor hometown to starting her own technology companies.
The candidate for a coalition of major opposition parties, she left the Senate last year to focus her anger on López Obrado’s decision to avoid confronting drug cartels through his “hugs, not” policy. balls “.
She vowed to pursue criminals more aggressively.
A third candidate from a smaller party, Jorge Álvarez Máynez, comes far behind.
Sheinbaum raises his arms after speaking at his closing campaign rally at Mexico City’s Zocalo.
Galvez speaks during his closing campaign rally in Los Reyes la Paz, a suburb of Mexico City.
Ongoing cartel violence, which has seen many local candidates killed in a wave of political violence, as well as Mexico’s poor economic performance, are the main issues on voters’ minds.
During the last election campaign, 145 people with racial ties across the country were murdered.
About 675,000 Mexicans living abroad are registered to vote, but in the past only a small percentage have done so.
However, overall turnout hovered around 60 percent in recent elections.
Beyond the fight for control of Congress, the race in Mexico City – whose top job is now considered equivalent to a governorship – is also crucial to this election.
Galvez supporters chant his name at his campaign closing rally
Sheinbaum supporter takes a selfie with a campaign poster during her closing rally
Sheinbaum is just the latest of a slew of Mexico City mayors, including López Obrador, who have run for president.
Several gubernatorial races in large, highly populated states such as Veracruz and Jalisco are also attracting interest.
In addition to the presidential election, a total of 20,000 congressional and local positions are on residents’ ballots, NBC News reported. This includes 500 members of Congress and 128 senators.
Today, polls open at 8 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. in most of the country.
The first preliminary and partial results are expected around 9 p.m., after the closing of the last polls in different time zones.
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