Claudia Sheinbaum wins landslide to become Mexico's 1st woman president

Claudia Sheinbaum will becomeMexico's first female president, inheriting the project of her mentor and outgoing leader Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador whose popularity among the poor helped drive her triumph.

Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and former mayor ofMexicoCity, won the presidency with between 58.3 per centand 60.7 per centof the vote, according to a rapid sample count byMexico's electoral authority. That is set to be the highest vote percentage inMexico's democratic history.

Sheinbaum is the first woman to win a general election in the United States,Mexicoor Canada.

The ruling coalition was also on track for a possible two-thirds super majority in both houses of Congress, which would allow the coalition to pass constitutional reforms without opposition support, according to the range of results given by the electoral authority.

On her way to vote on Sunday morning, Sheinbaum told journalists it was a "historic day" and that she felt at ease and content. Hervictory represents a major step for Mexico, a country known for its macho culture, withher six-year termbeginningOct. 1 once results are finalized.

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Mexico's largest-ever elections have also been the most violent in modern history, with the killing of 38 candidates. The deadly violence has stoked concerns about the threat of warring drug cartels to democracy. On Sunday, two people were killed at polling stations in Puebla state.

Sheinbaum, who has ledconvincingly in opinion polls over hermain competitor Xochitl Galvez, will be tasked with confronting organized crime violence. More people have been killed during the mandate of outgoing president Lopez Obrador than during any other administration in Mexico's modern history, although the homicide rate has come down over his term.

2 dead on Sunday

The violence was not limited to candidates. Two people were killed in violence at polling centres on Sunday as people cast their ballots.

Voting was suspended at one polling place after a person was killed in a shooting in Coyomeapan, a town in the state of Puebla, the state electoral authority reported in the afternoon. The state attorney general confirmed another death at a polling centrein Tlanalapan, also in Puebla.

The deadly violence stoked concerns about the threat of warring drug cartels to democracy.

Galvez, a senator who represents an opposition coalition comprised of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the right-wing PAN and the leftist PRD party, chatted with supporters before casting her ballot early Sunday.

"God is with me," Galvez said, adding that she was expecting a difficult day.

WATCH | Sheinbaum was backed by Mexico's outgoing leader:

Claudia Sheinbaum elected Mexico's 1st woman president

3 months ago

Duration 2:01

Claudia Sheinbaum has won Mexico's presidential election in a landslide. She will become the first woman to take on the role. Her victory comes after one of the most violent campaigns in the country's history, in which 38 candidates were killed.

There were long lines of voters outside polling places, even before they opened at 8 a.m. local time, with some reports of delayed openings.

"It seems like a dream to me. I never imagined that one day I would vote for a woman," said 87-year-old Edelmira Montiel, a Sheinbaum supporter inMexico's smallest state of Tlaxcala.

"Before we couldn't even vote, and when you could, it was to vote for the person your husband told you to vote for. Thank God that has changed and I get to live it," Montiel added.

Almost 100 million Mexicans were eligible to vote in Sunday's election. Other key positions were also up for grabs, including eight governorships and both chambers of Congress.

'Flooded with blood'

"The country is flooded with blood as a result of so much corruption," said Rosa Maria Baltazar, 69, a voter in Mexico City's upper-middle-class Del Valle neighbourhood. "I wish for a change of government for my country, something for a better life."

Lopez Obradorloomed over the campaign, seeking to turn the vote into a referendum on his political agenda. Sheinbaum has rejected opposition claims that she would be his"puppet," though she has pledged to continue many of his policies including those that have helped Mexico's poorest.

WATCH | Chaos in Mexico after stage collapses at political rally:

Chaos and confusion after stage collapses at political rally in Mexico

3 months ago

Duration 0:43

Video from the scene obtained by Reuters shows people running and screaming after a stage collapsed in San Pedro Garza Garcia, in Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

Challenges ahead for Sheinbaum also include addressing electricity and water shortages and luring manufacturers to relocate as part of the nearshoring trend, in which companies move supply chains closer to their main markets. The election winner also will have to wrestle with what to do with Pemex, the state oil giant that has seen production decline for two decades and is drowning in debt.

Both candidates promised to expand welfare programs, though Mexico has a large deficit this year and sluggish GDP growth of just 1.5 per centexpected by the central bank next year.

Sheinbaum will also face tense negotiations with the United States over the huge flows of U.S.-bound migrants crossing Mexico and security co-operation over drug trafficking at a time when the U.S. fentanyl epidemic rages.

Mexican officials expect these negotiations to be more difficult if the U.S. presidency is won by Donald Trump in November.

Trump, the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime, has vowed to impose 100 per centtariffs on Chinese cars made in Mexico and said he would mobilize special forces to fight the cartels.

WATCH | Supporters cheer forSheinbaum:

Celebrations ensue as Mexico elects first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum

3 months ago

Duration 1:00

Winning with an approximated 58 to 60 per cent of the vote, Claudia Sheinbaum will become Mexico's first female president, much to the glee of her supporters who celebrated her victory deep into the night. Women and minority groups of Mexico see her triumph as a step forward for a country that has long promoted traditional values and roles for women, as it is home to the world's second largest Roman Catholic population.