For the first time in its history Mexico has elected a woman president: following her victory on Sunday Claudia Sheinbaum will take over from leftist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, with whom she has close ties. Commentators discuss whether the physicist can or will make the most of this opportunity.
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She must turn the country round
El Mundo hopes Sheinbaum will distance herself from outgoing President López Obrador:
“Claudia Sheinbaum’s victory represents both a risk and an opportunity for Mexico. … The country’s first woman president will now have to show whether she is willing and able to distance herself from the deeply divisive tactics of her predecessor, who made attacks on the press, the rule of law and election observers his trademark style of governing. … She faces the task of reversing the great failure of López Obrador: insecurity and the power of the drug cartels reached record levels over the last six years. The daily murders are compounded by the dramatic number of missing persons which has climbed to 100,000.”
An opportunity to be seized
The Süddeutsche Zeitung reacts cautiously:
“Sheinbaum may be a renowned environmental scientist but she will nevertheless continue to expand the mining of fossil fuels, just as Amlo did before her. The same applies to the fact that she is a woman: although Sheinbaum has repeatedly described herself as a feminist, she has never really stood up for the rights of Mexican women. An average of ten women are murdered every day in Mexico, and the country is already suffering massively from the consequences of climate change. Thanks to her landslide victory, Sheinbaum has the opportunity to tackle both problems at their roots. The big question is whether she will seize it.”