Mexico, in a ground-breaking political move, is poised to potentially elect its first female president in the upcoming 2024 election. Claudia Sheinbaum and Senator Xóchitl Gálvez have been nominated as the presidential candidates for ruling party Morena and opposition coalition respectively, setting the stage for an iconic showdown of female leadership.
Claudia Sheinbaum earned her nomination from the ruling Morena faction. Sheinbaum, a native of Mexico City born in 1962, is a well-respected figure in the political landscape and was once the city's mayor. She boasts of academic credentials in physics and energy engineering and served as the city's environmental secretary in 2000 when the outgoing President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was the city's mayor. Their relationship has remained strong over the years, with Sheinbaum consistently backing Obrador in his presidential campaigns.
In the opposite corner, the opposition coalition has thrown its weight behind Senator Xóchitl Gálvez, an equally accomplished candidate. The alliance of opposition parties "Frente Amplio Por Mexico," which includes the National Action Party (PAN), the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), officially named Gálvez as the opposition candidate.
Gálvez, a member of PAN, told a Spanish outlet in July, "What the president (López Obrador) wants is to beat me; he is not going to beat me… I am a brave and forward-thinking woman, so this is just the beginning." From a modest background, she propelled herself to the top, studying computer engineering on a scholarship and later becoming a successful entrepreneur. Gálvez held the mayorship of the Miguel Hidalgo borough in Mexico City from 2015 to 2018 and then advanced to a seat in the Senate in 2018.
In another monumental decision, Mexico's Supreme Court on Wednesday federally decriminalized abortion, declaring the ban on the procedure unconstitutional. "The First Chamber of the Court ruled that the legal system that penalizes abortion in the Federal Criminal Code is unconstitutional, since it violates the human rights of women and people with the capacity to gestate" said the Supreme Court on social media.
This presidential battle signals a new era in Mexican politics, showcasing how far the nation, while wrestling with historic claims and traditional conservatism, has come towards inclusivity and equality for women in the political space.
