Claudia Sheinbaum was sworn in as President of Mexico on Tuesday, making history as the first woman to hold the office in the North American country.
Sheinbaum, 62, previously served as the mayor of Mexico City and was elected president in early June with 59.76% of the vote. Opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez secured 27.45% of the vote, while outsider Jorge Álvarez garnered 10.32%.
As a member of the leftist-nationalist Morena party, her election signals a continuation of the policies of her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who could not seek re-election.
As successor to Obrador, who founded the leftist movement Morena, she has promised to continue his populist policy but will face the same challenges as Obrador who is considered as her mentor. During the elections she supported constitutional changes that might undermine democracy. One of Obrador’s last changes was to politicize the judiciary by the election of judges.
