Claudia Sheinbaum was elected the first female president of Mexico, according to official election results.
The former mayor of Mexico City and part of the ruling leftist Morena party had between 58.3% and 60.7% of the vote, according to quick count results from the National Electoral Institute, the UPI reported.
“For the first time in 200 years of the republic, there will be a woman president and she will be transformative,” Sheinbaum said on X, formerly Twitter. “Thanks to each and every Mexican. Today we demonstrated with our vote that we are a democratic people.”
Coalition candidate Xochitl Galvez received between 26.6% and 28.6% of the vote and Jorge Alvarez Maynez, the candidate for the Citizens’ Movement party, received between 9.9% and 10.8% of the vote.
They have both conceded defeat.
“As she herself made it public, I have congratualted Claudia Sheinbaum for becoming the first woman president in the history of Mexico,” Maynez said on Facebook.
Sheinbaum’s one six-year term will begin Oct. 1.
The president-elect received congratulations from the outgoing president.
“Today is a glorious day because the people of Mexico have freely and democratically decided that Claudia Sheinbaum will become the first female president in 200 years of our republic’s independent history,” President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. “Congratulations to all of us who have the fortune of living in these stellar times of pride and transformation.”
Sheinbaum, 61, responded to Obrador, stating, “We will continue making history. We will preserve your legacy.”
Sheinbaum is an environmental scientist. She served as Mexico City’s secretary of environment under then-Mexico City Mayor Obrador from 2000 to 2006.
She is also a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for the group’s efforts to spread awareness of man-made climate change.
She became the mayor of Tlalpan before becoming Mexico City’s first woman mayor in 2018.
President Joe Biden also congratulated her on her victory.
“I look forward to working closely with President-elect Sheinbaum in the spirit of partnership and friendship that reflects the enduring bonds between our two countries,” Biden said. “I express our commitment to advancing the values and interests of both our nations to the benefit of our peoples.”
