MEXICO CITY: Campaign­ing officially began on Friday for elections likely to produce Mexico’s first woman president — a watershed for a nation with a long tradition of macho culture.

Opposition candidate Xochitl Galvez launched her campaign after the stroke of midnight in one of Mexico’s most dangerous states, seeking to tap into voter concerns about the country’s rampant violence. Public opinion polls suggest that she faces a tough battle against ruling party candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, a former Mexico City mayor and close ally of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Sheinbaum addressed large crowds of supporters in Mexico City’s main square, vowing to continue the outgoing left-wing populist’s “transformation” of the Latin American nation, including measures to fight corruption and help the poor.

With three months to go before the June 2 vote, Sheinbaum, a 61-year-old scientist by training, enjoys a significant lead with 63pc support, according to an average of polls compiled by the Oraculus research firm.

Galvez, also 61, has 31pc support, while Jorge Alvarez, 38, of the Citizens’ Movement party is a distant third with just five per cent, polls show. At stake is the future of Latin America’s second-largest economy, a country of 126 million people that is a key trading partner of the United States and a major tourist destination, but which faces huge challenges from illegal migration and drug-related violence.

Sheinbaum’s “biggest challenge is security because we’re experiencing a time of chaos,” said David Jimenez, a 49-year-old office worker at her rally.

‘People are afraid’

Galvez, an outspoken businesswoman with Indigenous roots, sought to put the focus on the country’s insecurity with a night-time rally in the city of Fresnillo in the violence-wracked state of Zacatecas.

She led a candle-lit march through the streets before sharing the stage with a relative of one of Mexico’s more than 100,000 missing persons, holding a minute’s silence for victims of violence.

“Here in Fresnillo, as in all of Mexico, people are afraid,” Galvez said, hitting out at Lopez Obrador’s “hugs not bullets” strategy to tackle violent crime at its roots by combating poverty and inequality, rather than using military force. “Hugs for criminals are over,” she said.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2024