Claudia Sheinbaum: Mexico's first female president and the challenges of her term in office

If you want to go a step further than Obrador, you have to remember that as a young man, Sheinbaum was part of a student movement that defended public education against reforms that would have resulted in high university fees and increased administrative costs. The movement prevented the privatisation of the university and succeeded in establishing democratic mechanisms to discuss issues that affected the student body. These were the first anti-neoliberal movements in Mexico that were a training ground for left-wing politicians, recalls Foreign Policy. Sheinbaum vindicates and continues this university activism. Like Obrador, she condemns 'neo-liberalism' that turns 'welfare into a commodity' but unlike Obrador who did little for education and health, Sheinbaum wants to be remembered as 'the president of public education' and promises to build schools, fight against school drop-outs, support the system with funds and improve the economic conditions of teachers.

She has been described as disciplined, strategic, technical but not bureaucratic. Professorly and aloof in tone, accused of lacking Obrador's charisma, Sheinbaum is comfortable with numbers. In a country where leading politicians traditionally boast degrees in law or economics, Sheinbaum has made her scientific background one of her hallmarks. He says he began his career as mayor of Mexico City by reading spreadsheets on a laptop he kept under his bed, writes Foreign Policy.

Despite much criticism, López Obrador invested heavily in the state oil company Pemex and the state electricity company CFE. Although Sheinbaum wants to maintain Mexico's energy sovereignty, he has announced a renewable energy strategy. He has proposed that Pemex also participate in lithium mining, produce heat and electricity from renewable energy sources, and engage in petrochemical and fertiliser production. He has promised to promote electric vehicles for public and private use and solar panels. She also has an ambitious plan to combat the drought that afflicts Mexico as well as all the climate changes she is familiar with. Another difference could be a different security strategy that, unlike Obrador's, does not include the centrality of the military.

Another original aspect of Sheinbaum's candidacy compared to Obrador is what she calls 'social feminism'. The feminist she most frequently cites is Angela Davis, but such a claim is very significant in a country plagued by the scourge of feminicides - approximately ten murders a day in the country - a violence that has increased during the Obrador years, insensitive to feminist demands. Here too, however, there is ambivalent behaviour: Sheinbaum supports his president, who criticises a group of activists and mothers of victims of feminicide who have occupied the National Human Rights Commission, but at the same time as mayor of Mexico City he distances himself from the policies of the federal government to the extent that violence against women under his tenure fell by 32 per cent.