National Election in Mexico Will Be Held in June
Mexico will hold a major national election on June 2, 2024. Voters will select a new president to replace outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. In Mexico, the president is limited to one six-year term.
In addition to electing a new president, this election is of major significance because the entire national legislature is up for reelection. All seats in the Senate and Chamber of Deputies are holding elections. Senators serve six-year terms. In the Chamber of Deputies, which is similar to the United States House of Representatives, elected members serve three-year terms.
Mexico Will Likely Elect First Female President
The two leading candidates for president are both women, so Mexico is likely to elect its first female president. Claudia Sheinbaum, the former mayor of Mexico City is the Morena (National Regeneration Movement) party candidate and is supported by a few other parties. A candidate may run as a member of a political party, and multiple parties may join to form a coalition (an alliance of separate political parties).
Sheinbaum is considered by many to be the continuation of current President López Obrador’s administration. López Obrador is supporting Claudia Sheinbaum’s campaign. He ran a populist campaign when he won election in 2018. He portrayed his victory as a win for Mexico’s working class. Polls suggest Sheinbaum will do well in the election with lower income voters.
Sheinbaum has a large lead in the polls over her closest opponent Senator Xóchitl Gálvez. Gálvez is the candidate of the Broad Front for Mexico (FAM), a coalition of three parties. One of the parties supporting Gálvez is the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) which controlled Mexico for more than seventy years. Now Mexico has numerous political parties, and Morena is the current ruling party.
Protests of the Current President
Gálvez supporters include those who oppose President López Obrador. The president’s critics believe that he is using his power to weaken democracy. About 90,000 demonstrators dressed in pink turned out on February 18, 2024, in Mexico City to protest some of López Obrador’s actions. The president cut funding for the National Electoral Institute, which oversees the election. He has also publicly criticized journalists and Mexico’s judiciary.
Newer Candidate Enters the Race
Jorge Álvarez Máynez is a third candidate running for president, representing the Citizens’ Movement (MC) political party. He announced his candidacy in January 2024, after the original party candidate dropped out in December 2023. He trails in the polls and has little name recognition. He hopes to attract younger voters looking for a candidate that is not part of the political establishment.
Three Presidential Candidates to Debate
The three candidates, Claudia Sheinbaum, Xóchitl Gálvez, and Jorge Álvarez Máynez will face each other in a series of three debates scheduled for April and May before the June election.