Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo has been elected as the first woman president of Mexico after what was a historic landslide win on Sunday. Ms Claudia, who will take office on October 1, will replace her mentor, outgoing President Andres Manuel Lpez Obrador.
In her victory speech, Ms Claudia thanked Mexicans who supported her and promised not to fail them. "I want to thank millions of Mexican women and men who decided to vote for us on this historic day. I won't fail you," AFP quoted Ms Claudia as saying.
Ms Claudia won between 58% and 60% of the vote in Sunday's election, defeating her main rival, businesswoman Xochitl Galvez.
Now, let us take a look at who Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo is?
- Claudia Sheinbaum was born in 1962 to scientist parents. She studied physics before going on to receive a doctorate in energy engineering.
- After spending years at a renowned research lab in California, where she studied Mexican energy consumption patterns, Ms Claudia became an expert on climate change. She has a Ph.D. in energy engineering and her brother is a physicist.
- In 2000, Ms Sheinbaum was appointed Secretary of the Environment for the Federal District under Andrés López Obrador's administration until 2006.
- The 61-year-old dedicated much of her life to teaching, focusing on renewable energy and climate change. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to which Ms Sheinbaum contributed, was honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
- Before running for the Presidency, Ms Claudia, in 2018, became the first female mayor of Mexico City, one of the most influential political positions in the country.
She will start her six-year tenure as Mexican President on October 1. Mexico's constitution does not allow reelection. She has also pledged to continue the outgoing president's controversial "hugs not bullets" strategy of tackling crime at its roots, according to AFP.
Talking about being the first female President of Mexico, Ms Claudia said that she didn't make it alone. "We've all made it, with our heroines who gave us our homeland, with our mothers, our daughters and our granddaughters. We have demonstrated that Mexico is a democratic country with peaceful elections," she said.
