Former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum after being named the ruling Morena party’s presidential candidate for next year’s presidential election in Mexico City on September 6, 2023 Give a speech.
Claudio Cruz | AFP | Getty Images
Mexican voters are taking part in the country’s elections largest election ever — are voting Sunday to fill more than 20,000 local, state and federal offices, almost certain to elect their first female president.
But rampant violence mars the road to one of the worst. the ensuing election In the history of Mexico.
Criminal groups have taken over much of Mexico, fighting for territory to traffic drugs into the United States, make money from smuggling immigrants and blackmail residents To fuel their illegal enterprise. Violence against politicians also persists According to statistics, across election cycles, the number of victims of political violence has increased by 150% since 2021 Analysis of Integraliais a public affairs consulting firm that studies political risk and other issues in Mexico.
These have deeply frustrated Mexican voters, leading most of them to cite security as their top concern. According to statistics, about 6 in 10 Mexican adults believe the city they live in is unsafe due to looting or armed violence a survey Published in April by Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography.
The two leading presidential candidates – Claudia Scheinbaum of Mexico’s ruling Morena party and Xochitl Galvez of the opposition Broad Front of Mexico – have different views on the best ways to reduce crime. Very different ideas.
One of them is expected to make history by becoming Mexico’s first female president, given that Jorge Alvarez Menez, the presidential candidate of the Civic Movement party, is far ahead in the polls.
Scheinbaum, a physicist and climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, said she plans to do this by continuing to “Hugs not bullets” policy Implemented by her mentor, outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the policy did not directly attack cartels as it had under previous administrations.
Tony Payan, director of the Center on the United States and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, said that before López Obrador took office, the Mexican government and local governments were “at least rhetorically interested in taking action against the violence.” “But that rhetoric has completely shifted since Mr. Lopez Obrador took office in late 2018…These criminals believe they can do almost anything they want and the state will not pursue them. them.
López Obrador’s policies have not significantly reduced killings over the past six years because Mexican government data Shows that at least 102,400 homicides were reported during this period.
But the data also shows that López Obrador’s predecessor’s strategy of pursuing drug lords through an all-out war has not improved security.
Galvez, a former senator and technology entrepreneur, has worked to convince voters that health care services and economic development have stalled and crime rates have remained high under Morena. The center-right candidate is also trying to position her party as a coalition of the traditional parties that have long ruled Mexico, such as the conservative National Action Party (PAN), the small Progressive Democratic Revolutionary Party and the old-school Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI — something Mexico needs to do Make changes to unite an increasingly polarized country.
Mexico’s next president will be instrumental in addressing U.S. priorities, such as immigration and foreign affairs, and Determining the future of trade deals This makes Mexico a U.S. biggest Business partner.
On Sunday, voting opens at 8:00 a.m. local time and ends at 6:00 p.m.
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