海角大神

With the selection of former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum as the candidate of the country鈥檚 ruling party in next June鈥檚 election, Mexico will for the first time have two women from its main political movements competing for the presidency.

Ms. Sheinbaum, as well as the opposition candidate X贸chitl G谩lvez, have insisted that Mexico is ready to be led by a woman, but it will not be an easy path.

On Wednesday night, President Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador鈥檚 Morena party announced that Ms. Sheinbaum had defeated five internal party rivals 鈥� all men. Mr. L贸pez Obrador has put women in important positions in his Cabinet and been a mentor for Ms. Sheinbaum, even while being accused at times of male chauvinism.

Mexico still has famously intense 鈥渕achismo鈥� or male chauvinism, expressed in its most extreme form in a high rate of femicides, but also in hundreds of more subtle ways daily.

Mexico has a strong 鈥渕acho vote,鈥� said Gloria Alcocer Olmos, director of the electoral magazine 鈥淰oice and Vote,鈥� adding that it is not exclusive to male voters.

Ms. Alcocer Olmos noted that in June鈥檚 gubernatorial election in the state of Mexico 鈥� the country鈥檚 most populous jurisdiction 鈥� the race was between two female candidates 鈥渁nd turnout was the lowest in history.鈥� The same thing occurred in the state election in Aguascalientes in 2021, she said.

鈥淲hat does that tell us?鈥� she asked. 鈥淭hat the people are voting for women? The reality is that no, and the saddest thing is that women themselves are not voting for women.鈥�

Such low turnout in the June 2 presidential election is less likely because so much is at stake, Ms. Alcocer Olmos said. There is also the possibility that the Citizen Movement party, which controls Nuevo Leon and Jalisco 鈥� two of the most economically important states 鈥� could nominate a male candidate who would attract that macho vote, she said.

Another unknown is what former Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard will do. As Ms. Sheinbaum鈥檚 closest rival in Morena, he did not accept the results of the internal party selection process, claiming there were irregularities.

Morena controls 22 of Mexico鈥檚 32 states and Mr. L贸pez Obrador remains highly popular, giving Ms. Sheinbaum a strong advantage. But Ms. G谩lvez emerged from virtual obscurity, helped largely by daily public criticism from Mr. L贸pez Obrador, to become the consensus candidate of the largely directionless opposition.

Aurora Pedroche, a Morena activist who supports Ms. Sheinbaum, suggested another problem should one of the female candidates win the presidency. Given the greatly increased power and responsibility that Mr. L贸pez Obrador has given the military during his administration, 鈥渉ow are they going to accept a woman as commander in chief?鈥�

鈥淭hat scares me,鈥� Ms. Pedroche said.

While Mexican women have advanced to positions of political power in public life 鈥� in part because of required representation quotas for public office 鈥� women suffer from high levels of gender violence. Femicides 鈥� cases of women killed because of their gender 鈥� have been a persistent problem for decades.

Ms. Sheinbaum represents continuation of Mr. L贸pez Obrador鈥檚 social agenda, but without his charisma to take on an opponent in Ms. G谩lvez who has an ease of connecting with people that is more reminiscent of the outgoing president.

The independent Ms. G谩lvez is representing the Broad Front for Mexico, a coalition of the conservative National Action Party, the small progressive Democratic Revolution Party, and the old-guard Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, that held Mexico鈥檚 presidency without interruption between 1929 and 2000.

Ms. G谩lvez caucuses with the National Action Party in the Senate but is not a member.

Strategist Antonio Sola, who worked on the 2006 campaign of former President Felipe Calder贸n and later with one of the parties that helped Mr. L贸pez Obrador win, thinks Ms. G谩lvez鈥檚 outsider image could help her.

With much of the world experiencing the end of a political era dominated by traditional candidates, the emerging figures are those who are 鈥渒icking the system,鈥� he said.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.