The Xóchitl Phenomenon
From now and until the entire year of 2024, the central issue in Mexico will be politics. On June 2, 2024, elections will be held in Mexico. It is expected that 98 million voters will attend to elect the next president of Mexico, 500 Representatives and 128 Senators who will form the Congress of the Union, in addition to 8 governorships and Mexico City, as well as numerous city councils in the country. There are more than 20,000 election positions that will be in dispute. The most notable thing has been the selection process of the candidates for the position of president of the republic. Morena, the party in government, after a process that was resolved through polls, decided that its candidate will be Claudia Sheinbaum, who had resigned as head of Government of Mexico City to run in this primary process. For the opposition, after a large number of candidates were clearing the way, the Broad Front for Mexico (Frente Amplio por México) – made up of three parties, the National Action Party (PAN), the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Revolution Democratic Party (PRD) – decided that Senator Xóchitl Gálvez will be the opposition’s candidate for the presidency.
This candidacy unexpectedly arose after an incident in which she was not allowed access the National Palace to participate in the morning conferences that the president holds every day to report on events and give the government’s opinion on the most varied issues. The refusal to participate in the morning conference, mañanera, as these conferences are colloquially known, despite having a court order (amparo) to participate, was the spark plug that ignited national interest in Xóchitl. In addition to having an undoubted charisma and friendliness, Xóchitl usually travels through the streets of the city by bicycle, she has a series of attributes that will make her a strong candidate to compete with Claudia Sheinbaum, so that Mexico will have female president whatever the result of the election. Xóchitl is indigenous, of very humble origins, an engineering student from UNAM who became a successful businesswoman and had access to politics when President Vicente Fox accepted the recommendation of a group of brain seekers who proposed her to occupy the Indigenous National Institute, where she carried out notable work, she has already been mayor in one of the municipalities of Mexico City and her experience in the Senate opened another political window for her. Frank, open, successful, and brave, she will be a candidate who will have the support of millions of Mexicans to face the official candidate Claudia Sheinbaum.
