Sheinbaum, who will take office on Oct. 1, announced that former foreign affairs minister Marcelo Ebrard will be her economy minister, while current Foreign Affairs Minister Alicia Bárcena will be her environment and natural resources minister.

Juan Ramón de la Fuente, Mexico’s former permanent representative to the United Nations and head of Sheinbaum’s transition team, will succeed Bárcena as foreign affairs minister.

The other three appointments to Sheinbaum’s cabinet include Rosaura Ruiz as minister for science, humanities, technology and innovation; Julio Berdegué as agriculture and rural development minister; and Ernestina Godoy as legal counsel to the president.

Ruiz will lead a new ministry that will incorporate the National Council of Humanities, Science and Technology.

The president-elect previously announced that current Finance Minister Rogelio Ramírez de la O would remain in his position after she takes office.

She said Thursday that the six additional cabinet members who will be sworn in with her on Oct. 1 are “first-class men and women with experience” who will “help us a lot to achieve our objectives in the next six years.”

Two of the appointees, Ruiz and Godoy, were members of Sheinbaum’s government when she was mayor of Mexico City between 2018 and 2023.

The president-elect, who won the June 2 presidential election in a landslide, said she will announce more cabinet appointments next week.

Among the key appointments still to be announced are the interior minister, security minister, defense minister and energy minister roles.

What are the backgrounds of the cabinet appointees?

Marcelo Ebrard

The soon-to-be economy minister served as foreign affairs minister in the current federal government between December 2018 and June 2023, when he stepped down to pursue the ruling Morena party’s nomination for the 2024 presidential election.

He was runner-up to Sheinbaum in the polling process to select the candidate.

Ebrard was mayor of Mexico City between 2006 and 2012 and served as a minister in the capital during President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s 2000-05 mayorship. He has also served as a federal deputy.

Ebrard will succeed Raquel Buenrostro as economy minister.

Alicia Bárcena

Mexico’s next environment minister has been foreign affairs minister for almost a year, succeeding Ebrard last July.

She was Mexico’s ambassador to Chile between September 2022 and June 2023 after serving almost 14 years as executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Bárcena will succeed María Luisa Albores as environment minister.

Juan Ramón de la Fuente

The soon-to-be foreign affairs minster was Mexico’s permanent representative to the UN between 2018 and 2023.

A psychiatrist by profession, de la Fuente was rector of the National Autonomous University (UNAM) between 1999 and 2007 and federal health minister during the presidency of Ernesto Zedillo (1994-2000).

He will replace Bárcena as foreign affairs minister.

Rosaura Ruiz 

The future science minister headed up the Mexico City Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation for four years during Sheinbaum’s 2018-23 mayorship in the capital.

Ruiz, who has a PhD in biology, was head of UNAM’s Faculty of Science between 2010 and 2018.

When she becomes minister for science, humanities, technology and innovation she will effectively succeed María Elena Álvarez-Buylla, the current director of the National Council of Humanities, Science and Technology. 

Julio Berdegué 

Mexico’s next agriculture minister was assistant director-general for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations between 2017 and 2022. He also served as the organization’s regional representative for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Originally from Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Berdegué has worked for and with a number of other international organizations, including the International Institute for Environment and Development.

The agronomist will succeed Víctor Villalobos as agriculture minister.

Ernestina Godoy

The woman set to be Sheinbaum’s chief legal advisor was Mexico City attorney general between 2018 and 2024. She previously served as a federal and Mexico City lawmaker.

Godoy, who completed her law degree at UNAM in 1979, has held a range of other government positions in Mexico City.

She will succeed María Estela Ríos as legal counsel of the federal executive.

Mexico News Daily 

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President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum announced the results of the polls at a press conference on Monday.

The judicial reform proposal — which seeks to allow citizens to directly elect Supreme Court justices and other judges, among other objectives — was sent to Congress in February as part of a large package of proposed constitutional changes.

Since Morena’s comprehensive victory in the June 2 elections, concerns over the likelihood of the approval of the reform proposals — particularly the judicial one — have caused the Mexican peso to depreciate around 8% against the US dollar.

Critics say that some of the proposals, including one to disband a number of autonomous government agencies, will reduce checks and balances on executive power in Mexico.

Sheinbaum supports the proposals, but pledged last week that there would be “broad consultation” before they are considered by the new Congress, which will be sworn in Sept. 1.

The surveys — conducted by the polling companies De las Heras and Enkoll, and Morena’s Polling Commission, at homes across the country — are part of the consultation process.

A total of more than 3,800 people responded to the three surveys, which were conducted between June 14 and 16.

The margin of error was between +/- 2.57% and +/- 2.9%, while the confidence level was 95%, according to the two polling companies and Morena’s Polling Commission.

4 in 5 respondents believe the judicial reform is necessary

Over 80% of respondents to the Enkoll (83%) and Morena (81%) polls said they believed that carrying out the judicial reform is necessary, while 77% of those polled by De las Heras said the same.

The percentage of respondents who said the reform wasn’t necessary ranged from 12%-14%, while the remainder of those polled didn’t respond or didn’t have an opinion one way or the other.

Of note is that around half of those polled — 54%, 51% and 49%, according to the different polls — hadn’t heard of the proposed reform before they were asked about in the survey.

However, the majority of those people were evidently not dissuaded from expressing support for the proposed reform, despite their lack of knowledge about it.

López Obrador argues that Mexico’s judiciary is at the service of the nation’s elite rather than ordinary people, and that it needs renewal. Sheinbaum agrees.

A key aim of the proposal is to allow citizens to elect Supreme Court justices from candidates nominated by the sitting president, the Congress and sitting Supreme Court justices themselves.

Among its other objectives are to reduce the number of Supreme Court justices from 11 to nine, to shorten their terms from 15 years to 12, and to cap their maximum permitted salary at the same level as that earned by the president.

Referring to the survey results, Sheinbaum said Monday that “a very high percentage of the population believes that it is necessary” to overhaul the judiciary.

She noted that the percentage of poll respondents who are in favor of the reform is even higher than the 59.75% support she attracted in the presidential election on June 2.

Around 7 in 10 respondents believe citizens should elect Supreme Court justices and other judges 

Respondents to the three polls were specifically asked how Supreme Court (SCJN) justices should be chosen, and how other judges and magistrates should be selected.

Exactly three-quarters of respondents to both the Enkoll and Morena polls said that the Mexican people should elect SCJN justices, while 68% of those polled by De las Heras said the same.

Between 18% and 25% of the respondents said that the Senate should elect the justices, as is currently the case. A short list of three candidates are submitted to the Senate by the sitting president when a position for a justice becomes available.

However, late last year, López Obrador directly appointed Lenia Batres Guadarrama as a SCJN justice after the Senate on two occasions failed to endorse any of the candidates he put forward. It was the first time in Mexican history that a president made a direct appointment.

Asked how lower-ranking justices and magistrates should be chosen, around seven in 10 respondents again responded that citizens should elect them. Between 19%-24% of those polled said that the judicial power itself should choose the judges that preside over Mexico’s courts.

A majority of respondents believe all or most judges are corrupt

One in five of those polled by De las Heras said they believed that all justices, judges and magistrates are corrupt, while 17% of respondents to the Enkoll survey and 15% of those who spoke with Morena pollsters said the same.

Much larger numbers of people said that “the majority” of judges are corrupt: 44% (Enkoll); 40% (Morena) and 38% (De las Heras).

Thus 55%-61% of those polled either said that all or most judges are corrupt, sharing an opinion that López Obrador and other government officials have voiced on countless occasions.

Around three in 10 respondents (26%-34%) said that only a few judges are corrupt, while only 2%-5% of those polled said that no judges are corrupt. The remainder declined to share an opinion.

Almost 9 in 10 respondents support the creation of an independent judicial watchdog 

The pollsters also asked respondents whether they agreed or disagreed with the creation of an independent body to oversee the judicial system, investigate alleged misdeeds and sanction judges where appropriate.

Between 85%-89% of respondents said they agreed with the idea, while only 7%-9% disagreed.

As the proposed judicial reform would change Mexico’s constitution, it requires support from two-thirds of lawmakers to pass Congress.

Morena and its allies won a supermajority in the lower house on June 2, but fell just short in the Senate, meaning that they will have to gain the support of a few opposition senators in order to approve constitutional reform proposals put forward by López Obrador and Sheinbaum, who will be sworn in as Mexico’s first female president on Oct. 1.

With reports from El Economista, Reforma and El Financiero

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PRD national president Jesús Zambrano effectively acknowledged the demise of the leftist party at an event in Mexico City on Saturday.

“It hurts, but it’s up to me to say it. … The PRD we built 35 years ago no longer exists as such,” said Zambrano, who represented the party in the Chamber of Deputies during three separate three-year terms.

However, the “enthusiasm” to “continue fighting for a democracy that today is under threat” is still “alive,” he said.

“I can’t hide my sadness, … but I hope that with all this political capital we accumulated … we have something to start a new cycle with,” Zambrano said.

The National Electoral Institute (INE) announced last week that it had advised the PRD that it had entered a “period of precaution” because it didn’t reach “3% of the valid vote” in any of the three federal elections held earlier this month.

The PRD contested the elections as part of a three-party opposition bloc that also included the National Action Party (PAN) and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

The INE said in a statement last Monday that, “in accordance with article 94 of the General Law on Political Parties,” a party “enters a period of precaution” when it faces “any” situation that would cause it to lose its registration as a “national political party.”

The PRD is set to be deregistered at the national level because it obtained just 1.86% of the vote in the presidential election, in which it supported Xóchitl Gálvez; only 2.43% of the vote in the Chamber of Deputies election; and just 2.27% of the vote in the Senate election.

The INE will appoint a person this Wednesday to carry out the process to liquidate the PRD.

Founded in 1989 by a group of people that included López Obrador and well-known leftist political figure Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas, the PRD quickly became Mexico’s third political force, after the PRI and the PAN.

Cárdenas represented the party at the 1994 and 2000 presidential elections, after he finished second to the PRI’s Carlos Salinas in the 1988 contest, which was widely considered to have been fraudulent. The National Democratic Front he represented in 1988 is considered the immediate predecessor to the PRD.

López Obrador won the 2000 mayoral election in Mexico City on a PRD ticket, and subsequently represented the party at the 2006 and 2012 presidential elections, which he lost to the PAN’s Felipe Calderón and the PRI’s Enrique Peña Nieto, respectively.

He won the 2018 election as the candidate for the Morena party he founded just a few years earlier, while the PRD joined the PAN in a right-left alliance that backed Ricardo Anaya.

On Saturday, Zambrano acknowledged that the “majority” of Mexican voters “rejected Xóchitl and the PRI-PAN-PRD coalition” on June 2.

“They didn’t trust us. We didn’t win them over. … There was never a campaign strategy that was discussed and agreed to by everybody. … The war room operated without coordination with the leadership of the parties,” he said.

On social media after the party event, Zambrano said that if the PRD loses its national registration “we must work for the legal registration of a new party, with a new name, leaving behind the practices and bad habits that caused the current results.”

On Monday, López Obrador acknowledged the PRD leader’s remarks, and said that party he helped found “played an important role in its time because … [it] avoided that bipartisan attempt [to control politics by the PRI and the PAN].”

“And it was a party that arose from the people, from an electoral fraud. … It fought for just causes,” he added.

With reports from El Financiero, El Economista and Latinus

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The collapse of the German Weimar Republic in 1933, when Adolf Hitler — already a democratically elected chancellor — began to urge his supporters to take to the streets, demonize his critics and political opponents, to label the media as “enemies of the people,” subordinate the judiciary, science, and universities to politics, and to subsequently cancel elections, is a clear example of how a state and democracy can be destroyed from within.

In “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,” Karl Marx began the text with the famous phrase (originally formulated by Hegel) that history repeats itself, “the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.”

AMLO leaves a weakened and inefficient state

In Mexico, we have witnessed in these almost six years of Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s presidential term a demolition of the state and its institutions. And no, before readers have a fit, I am not comparing López Obrador to Hitler or what is happening in Mexico in 2024 to Nazi totalitarianism in Germany in 1933. 

But on Election Day, the majority of the Mexican electorate unequivocally chose to give six more years to this administration’s vision of the nation. And the problem is that this project is potentially fraught with limitations and own goals, as we head towards the transition on Oct 1. One of the main challenges we as a country — and especially President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum — will face is receiving a deeply weakened and dysfunctional state.

The urgent issue of our time for the liberal state that we should all advocate for has nothing to do with its ideological orientation, or the size and vocation of the government in power, themes around which the right and the left have been in constant ideological and political-electoral struggle for decades. The central issue, in my view, is its efficiency and effectiveness.

The COVID-19 pandemic made this clear: the essential difference in how various nations around the world fared was not whether some governments were right-wing and others left-wing, or between democratic and authoritarian regimes; the essential fault line was between effective and ineffective governments.

What is happening today with the institutions of the Mexican state is simply the logical conclusion of the obsession that has largely driven López Obrador. From the beginning of his administration in 2018, the most serious danger on the horizon was always going to be an imperial presidency, all-powerful and centralizing, and the elimination of checks and balances as well as autonomous institutions that a generation of Mexicans laboriously worked to establish over more than three decades to anchor and deepen our nascent democracy.

Government institutions and agencies, as well as their powers and responsibilities, and the few relatively depoliticized civil service bureaucracies, have been eviscerated and cannibalized or, in the worst case, demolished.

The president has fundamentally sought to weaken Mexico’s institutions so that they cannot constrain him, purging them of cadres he considers disloyal to him and the Fourth Transformation (4T) movement. But this also means that he cannot rely on these institutions to generate growth, mitigate the costs of the pandemic that have not dissipated, resolve social conflicts, tackle growing public insecurity, leverage Mexico’s geostrategic assets, or even secure what he most desires: to leave a legacy.

Mexico must be more plural and open to the world

And all this also contains a great paradox: for a president who from day one boasted that “the best foreign policy is domestic policy,” it is precisely the weakness of his public policies, exacerbating the internal weaknesses of the country, that have opened fronts of pressure and vulnerability abroad, particularly with respect to the United States. Just look at the numerous examples related to the inability to manage migration flows, curb fentanyl trafficking, or address issues of civil aviation, fishing, agricultural exports, or maritime preservation to grasp the impact this is having on the country and the state’s capacities.

Therefore, we Mexicans and our society must continue to push for a country that is fully democratic, plural, tolerant, liberal, balanced, just, secure, with a market economy, open to the world, with a strong, solid, effective state.

And for this reason, I want more Mexico in the world and more of the world in Mexico; a state that relies on its professional diplomatic cadres, a nation that stops navel-gazing and floating aimlessly in the international system, that finds its moral compass and geopolitical bearings in a highly fluid global environment; that leaves behind old foreign policy crutches and paradigms; that decides to contribute to global public goods; that returns to being a weight in the multilateral arena, particularly on issues such as disarmament and nuclear proliferation, which today loom as emerging threats; that has the vision to design an integrated migration policy paradigm; that rediscovers its vocation to preserve biodiversity and once again lead on global climate change issues; and that recognizes the enormous value of promoting the country abroad, whether by rebuilding agencies to attract investment, designing a true cultural and creative industries promotion strategy, or confronting the brutal degradation of the credibility and perception of the country abroad.

History shows over and over that populism and demagoguery — on the left and the right —are shortcuts that often end in disaster; they fracture and polarize societies and divide people into rival camps of intolerance. Instead of building the future, they always invoke the past, but nostalgia can neither be nor should be established as public policy.

Today in Mexico there are plenty of excuses, shouting and insults and a lack of rationality, debate and consensus. Listen, respect, tolerate, understand, converse, debate, reach consensus, build, negotiate, move forward. If someone finds those lost verbs somewhere, tell them that Mexico’s democracy is desperately looking for them.

At this turning point for the republic, I hope the president-elect recognizes this, and decides to act accordingly. We Mexicans urgently need it.

Arturo Sarukhan has had a distinguished education and career, serving as Mexico’s ambassador to the U.S. (2007-2013), and in additional advisory roles in both Mexico and the U.S. Currently based in Washington, D.C., he writes about international issues for various media outlets and is a regular opinion columnist published on Mexico News Daily.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mexico News Daily, its owner or its employees.

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She said there would be “broad consultation” before the judicial reform proposal is discussed by Congress, but was unable to stop the Mexican peso from sliding as she spoke about the plan that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) sent to Congress earlier this year.

Sheinbaum, who won the June 2 presidential election in a landslide, held a press conference late Monday afternoon after what she described as a “very emotional, historic and important meeting” with López Obrador, her political mentor since she served as environment minister in his Mexico City government in the early 2000s.

AMLO is an outspoken critic of Mexico’s judiciary, claiming that it serves Mexico’s corrupt elite rather than the majority of Mexican people.

Sheinbaum told reporters that she would announce a gender-balanced cabinet next week, that she would meet with a delegation of United States government officials on Tuesday and that she intended to accompany AMLO on trips to inspect the current government’s infrastructure projects, such as the Maya Train railroad.

But her main focus — and the topic reporters were most interested in — was the package of constitutional reform proposals the current president submitted to Congress in February.

The 61-year-old president-elect said that the proposed judicial reform as well as proposals to increase pensions for teachers and other public workers, and to prohibit the re-election of all politicians would be the first proposed constitutional changes to be considered by the new Congress.

Sheinbaum, who will take office on Oct. 1, said she expected those reforms to pass Congress “at least in the first months” after the new Congress is sworn in on Sept. 1.

She said that other reform proposals sent to Congress by AMLO would be considered at a later date.

Sheinbaum also said she would put forth two of her own constitutional reform proposals — one that would ensure that all women aged 60 to 64 receive government financial support and another that would guarantee educational scholarships for all public school students.

She said that those initiatives would be a priority as well.

“For the first time we’re going to recognize the work of Mexican women,” the president-elect said after noting that women usually do the majority of household chores.

Sheinbaum, who will be Mexico’s first female president, advocated “a very broad discussion in the entire country” before the different reform proposals are considered by Congress.

In the case of the proposed judicial reform, bar associations, university law faculties, Supreme Court justices, judges and judicial workers should participate in the debate, she said.

Sheinbaum said that people need the opportunity to truly understand Mexico’s judicial system and the proposed reform. She added that López Obrador agreed with the plan to subject his proposed reforms to debate.

Sheinbaum didn’t say whether she would accept modifications to the proposal judicial reform, but stressed that the debate will focus on the initiative as sent to Congress by the current president.

Asked about opposition parties’ positions on the proposals, Sheinbaum simply said they have the right to disagree with them.

The proposed judicial reform and separate proposals to disband a number of government autonomous agencies and make changes to Mexico’s electoral system have spooked markets since it became clear from the June 2 election results that Morena would be able to approve constitutional changes with little or no negotiation with opposition parties. Critics say that the proposals will reduce checks and balances on executive power.

Final election results indicate that Morena and its allies have a two-thirds majority in the Chamber of Deputies, allowing them to pass constitutional changes without opposition support, while they are just a few votes short of a supermajority in the Senate. Morena national president Mario Delgado has expressed confidence that gaining the support of a few opposition lawmakers to approve constitutional reforms will not be an overly difficult task.

When Morena’s leader in the lower house of Congress said last week that the ruling party would seek to hold a vote on the proposed judicial reform in September, the peso promptly took a nosedive.

Sheinbaum’s remarks on Monday had a similar effect, with the peso falling as much as 1.8% to 18.58 to the US dollar after she spoke, according to Bloomberg. The peso was trading at 18.50 to the greenback at midday Mexico City time on Tuesday, about 8% weaker than its pre-election level.

Specifically asked whether she was concerned about the volatility of the peso, the president-elect said she didn’t believe the discussion and eventual approval of the judicial reform would have a negative impact on the currency.

“The president will leave us with very good finances” and the Mexican economy is in “very good” shape, Sheinbaum said.

She declined to disclose whether she would live in the National Palace as president, as AMLO does, or whether she will follow in her predecessor’s footsteps and hold weekday morning press conferences colloquially known as mañaneras.

In other remarks, Sheinbaum committed to having “very good” relationships with state governments, a majority of which are led by Morena governors, and pledged to maintain support for the Plan Sonora renewable energy initiative.

She also said that her meeting with López Obrador would be her first “of many others” as president-elect.

“I’ve always said, it’s an honor to be with Andrés Manuel López Obrador. We’re part of this great project of transformation of our country,” Sheinbaum said.

Mexico News Daily 

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Morena will thus have to seek support from a few opposition senators in order to approve the constitutional reform proposals submitted to Congress by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador in February.

López Obrador, Morena’s founder, will hand over the presidential sash to Claudia Sheinbaum on Oct. 1, exactly one month after the new Congress is sworn in.

Proportional representation seats won’t be officially allocated until August, but June 2 results announced by the National Electoral Institute (INE) on Sunday indicate that Morena and its allies, the Labor Party (PT) and the Green Party (PVEM), won 370 of 500 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 82 of 128 seats in the Senate, according to the newspaper El Economista.

A two-thirds majority is 334 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 86 seats in the Senate.

Morena’s national president, Mario Delgado, was slightly more optimistic about the rewards the Morena-PT-PVEM coalition will reap from its strong showing in the elections on the first Sunday in June.

He posted an infographic to social media that showed that the three allied parties will have 372 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 83 in the Senate.

“Thanks to all of you Plan C is a reality!” Delgado wrote above the image, referencing López Obrador’s much-touted plan to gain sufficient support for his reform proposals by winning supermajorities in Congress.

“With a qualified majority in the Chamber of Deputies and a majority in the Senate, we will deepen the transformation in order to continue building a country with wellbeing and shared prosperity,” the Morena national president added.

Delgado has expressed confidence that gaining the support of a few opposition lawmakers to approve constitutional reforms will not be an overly difficult task.

Among López Obrador’s planned reforms are ones to disband several autonomous government agencies, change Mexico’s electoral system, overhaul the pension system, incorporate the National Guard into the military and allow citizens to directly elect Supreme Court justices and other judges.

Critics say that some of the proposals will reduce checks and balances on executive power in Mexico.

Preliminary results indicating that Morena and its allies would have the numbers in Congress to approve the proposals with little or no negotiation with opposition parties caused the Mexican peso and the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) to lose significant ground last week.

The BMV has recovered some of its losses, but the peso remains well below its pre-election level. It was trading at just above 18.30 to the US dollar at midday Mexico City time on Monday.

President-elect Sheinbaum last week sought to calm markets by announcing that Finance Minister Rogelio Ramírez de la O would remain in his position when she takes office and endorsing a set of economic commitments outlined by Ramírez de la O.

She also said there would be broad dialogue about the reform proposals, but López Obrador appears determined to get at least some of them — especially his proposed judicial reform — approved before his term as president ends.

Political makeup of Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies

As mentioned earlier, proportional representation seats — 200 in the Chamber of Deputies and 32 in the Senate — will not be officially allocated until August. Legal challenges could affect the final allocation of seats in both houses of Congress.

The governing alliance

According to the newspaper El Economista, Morena won 245 seats in the lower house of Congress, the PVEM won 77 and PT won 48. The three parties together would thus have 270 seats.

INE results show that Morena won 40.8% of the vote in the Chamber of Deputies election, the PVEM attracted 8.4% support and the PT received 5.5% of all ballots cast.

The three-party coalition known as Let’s Keep Making History thus won 54.7% of the vote. It will have more than triple the number of seats of the three-party opposition bloc.

The PVEM, which was previously an ally of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), will be the second biggest party in the Chamber of Deputies after Morena.

The opposition

Once the recently-elected lawmakers assume their positions on Sept. 1, the National Action Party (PAN) will have 68 seats in the lower house of Congress, the PRI will have 33 and the PRD will have three, according to El Economista.

Thus, the three-party alliance made up of the PAN, the PRI and the PRD will have 104 seats.

Strength and Heart for Mexico, as the coalition is called, supported Xóchitl Gálvez in the presidential election. She attracted 27.45% of the vote, well behind Sheinbaum with 59.75%.

INE results show that the PAN won 16.9% of the vote in the Chamber of Deputies election, the PRI attracted 11.1% support and the PRD received 2.4% of all ballots cast.

Thus, Strength and Heart for Mexico won 30.4% of the vote.

The Citizens Movement (MC) party won 10.9% of the vote and will have 25 seats in the lower house, according to El Economista. Its presidential election candidate, Jorge Álvarez Máynez, attracted 10.3% support on June 2.

One of the 500 members of the lower house of Congress is set to be an independent.

Deputies serve three-year terms.

Breakdown of Mexico’s Senate

The governing alliance

According to El Economista, Morena won 60 seats in the Senate, the PVEM won 14 and the PT won eight. The Morena-led coalition will thus have 82 seats in the upper house.

INE results show that Morena attracted 40.8% of the vote, the PVEM had 8.9% support and the PT received 5.5% of all ballots cast.

Thus, the Morena-led coalition won 55.2% of the vote in the Senate election, narrowly beating its result in the Chamber of Deputies election. Despite that, its percentage of seats in the Senate will be lower than in the Chamber of Deputies.

The opposition  

According to El Economista, the PAN won 22 seats in the Senate, the PRI won 16 and the PRD won two. That gives the three-party opposition bloc a total of 40 seats in the upper house.

INE results show that the PAN received 16.8% of the vote, the PRI got 10.9% and the PRD attracted 2.3% support. Combined support for the three-party alliance in the Senate election was 30%.

MC attracted 10.9% support in the Senate election and will have six senators as of Sept. 1, according to El Economista.

Senators serve six-year terms.

Mexico News Daily 

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I am excited about Mexico’s future and am hopeful and optimistic that President-elect Sheinbaum will do well in leading the nation. However, I’ve come up with a wish list for her term based on what I think are important issues for the country that she will need to address.

Be a president for all Mexicans

Make it clear with some initial gestures that you will be the president of all Mexicans.  Unfortunately, AMLO’s leadership has been characterized as accelerating the polarization in politics in Mexico. As we have seen in other countries around the world, this is not productive nor healthy for the future of the country. Demonstrate that you will take immediate steps to reduce the polarization in Mexican politics by taking into account important priorities from the opposition candidates.

Make it clear how your leadership will differ from AMLO

On day one, make it clear if and how your leadership and policies will be different than AMLO’s. One of the biggest concerns and complaints from people who disagree with AMLO’s policies is that they think you will be a “puppet of AMLO’s” and not act independently. Be specific in telling us how you will be different.

Be proactive on nearshoring

Recognize the massive opportunity that Mexico has for foreign direct investment (FDI) with the nearshoring trend and make it clear that Mexico is open for business and investment.  Understand that the investment is not guaranteed and must be earned with the trust of businesses, entrepreneurs and investors.

Don’t hold on to the “super peso”

Understand that a strong peso — although politically popular — is not necessarily a good thing for Mexico and many Mexicans. Do not link your administration’s success to the strength of the peso.

Make changes to improve security

Take serious, innovative steps towards improving the security situation in the country.  Understand that there is nothing holding back Mexico’s potential more than both the perception and unfortunate reality of violence throughout the country.

Make Mexico a leader in renewable energy

Be bold with a vision to make Mexico a world leader in solar power generation and water reuse and recycling technologies. Mexico needs to show strong leadership in these areas and every peso invested here will pay tremendous dividends to future generations of Mexicans. Inspire us with your experience and leadership in this area.

Re-engage with the global community

AMLO wrongly pulled back on participating in global leadership gatherings. Mexico’s voice and leadership on global affairs is more important than ever. Be crystal clear on the strategic importance of a strong free trade agreement in which the US, Canada and Mexico are aligned and cooperating on global trade issues, especially in regards to China.

Address infrastructure gaps

The infrastructure investments made in the southeast during AMLO’s term have been impressive. However, there are still significant infrastructure improvements needed in the north and central parts of the country to accelerate nearshoring investments. Not urgently addressing this will ultimately hurt Mexico’s ability to fully take advantage of this opportunity.

Re-think public companies

Reconsider the role of the Mexican government in areas where private enterprise can help fund and accelerate growth. The state-run companies of CFE and Pemex are unfortunate examples of what can go terribly wrong when the government attempts to run companies.  Take a hard look at what can be done to improve these businesses, consider how private investment can help, and reconsider AMLO’s recent moves to have the government involved with building airports, highways and operating Mexicana airlines, etc.

Think big and bold

Inspire confidence from everyone in the country. Surprise your critics with your ability to think and act beyond your political party. Mexico has a historic opportunity given the current geopolitical situation worldwide. It truly is Mexico’s opportunity to shine – but you have to believe it, make all Mexicans believe it and make the world believe it!

Travis Bembenek is the CEO of Mexico News Daily and has been living, working or playing in Mexico for over 27 years.

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Final election results show that Sheinbaum, candidate for an alliance made up of the ruling Morena party, the Labor Party (PT) and the Ecological Green party of Mexico (PVEM), received 35.92 million votes, or 59.75% of all ballots cast.

Her tally was more than double that of opposition bloc candidate Xóchitl Gálvez, and she won 5.8 million more votes than López Obrador, who in 2018 became the most-voted-for winner in a presidential election in Mexico.

Support for Sheinbaum in percentage terms was the highest since Miguel de la Madrid won the 1982 presidential election with just under 71% of the vote. De la Madrid represented the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which was Mexico’s hegemonic political force at the time.

López Obrador’s won 53.2% of the vote in 2018, while former presidents Enrique Peña Nieto (2012-18) and Felipe Calderón (2006-12) both prevailed with less than 40% of the vote.

Gálvez, who represented the National Action Party (PAN), the PRI and the Democratic Revolution Party in last Sunday’s election, received just over 16.5 million votes or 27.45% of the total.

Her tally exceeded that of the 2018 presidential election runner-up, Ricardo Anaya of the PAN, by almost 3 million votes.

Jorge Álvarez Máynez, the Citizens Movement (MC) party candidate in the 2024 presidential election, received 6.2 million votes or 10.3% of all ballots cast.

National Electoral Institute data shows that a total of 60.11 million votes were cast in the presidential election. Just over 1.4 million votes were invalid, while more than 83,000 people cast ballots for unregistered candidates. Turnout among eligible voters was just over 61%.

Sheinbaum thanks voters for their support

In a video message on Thursday, President-elect Sheinbaum noted that her vote tally was 35.8 million with 99.8% of the vote counted.

¡Gracias, gracias, gracias! Más de 35 millones de votos. pic.twitter.com/j80K7jDZ3t

— Dra. Claudia Sheinbaum (@Claudiashein) June 6, 2024

Claudia Sheinbaum shared a message of thanks on her social media accounts on Thursday.

Before that, she thanked the Mexican people for their support last Sunday.

“This message is to say to you, thank you, thank you, my heartfelt thanks,” Sheinbaum said. “… The truth is I’m moved.”

Sheinbaum, who will be sworn in as Mexico’s first female president on Oct. 1, said she was “convinced” that the presidential election result equated to “recognition from the people of Mexico that we’re on the right track.”

She also said that citizens had demonstrated “trust” that her government will “continue moving forward with the fourth transformation,” as the political project initiated by López Obrador is known.

“Our conviction has always been and will continue to be openness to dialogue, strengthening of freedoms, democracy and of course closeness to the people of Mexico. We’re going to continue building shared prosperity. I’m not going to fail you. We’re going for the second story of the fourth transformation,” Sheinbaum said.

For her part, Gálvez announced in a video message on Wednesday that she had decided to return to the Senate to finish the six-year term she began in 2018. She stepped down as a senator in late 2023 to contest the presidential election.

Gálvez and PAN leader Marko Cortés said earlier this week that the opposition would file challenges against what they believe was an unfair presidential election, in which López Obrador intervened and “the entire state apparatus” was used to favor Sheinbaum. 

With reports from El Economista and Forbes México 

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The peso was trading at just above 17.5 to the US dollar in the early afternoon, but quickly fell more than 2.7% to 18 to the greenback after Deputy Ignacio Mier Velazco’s announcement on proposals that López Obrador sent to Congress in February.

The USD:MXN exchange rate was 17.90 at 5 p.m. Mexico City time, according to Bloomberg.

Mier told a press conference that Morena will seek to hold a vote on López Obrador’s proposal to overhaul the judiciary once lawmakers elected last Sunday assume their positions in September. He also said that 17 other constitutional reform proposals — including one to eliminate numerous autonomous government agencies — remain “current,” indicating that lawmakers could seek to approve those in September as well.

López Obrador will leave office a month after the new Congress is sworn in, handing the presidential sash to Claudia Sheinbaum, who has expressed support for the proposed reforms.

Morena and its allies will have a two-thirds majority in the Chamber of Deputies once the new lawmakers take their seats, and will almost have a supermajority in the Senate. They will thus be able to pass constitutional changes with the support of just a few opposition senators.

The election results caused the peso and the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV) to fall sharply on Monday.

During trading on Thursday, the BMV’s benchmark index rose above its pre-election level, but fell after Mier’s announcement. At the close of the BMV on Thursday, the index was 1.3% below its level at the close of markets last Friday.

The peso depreciated on Monday and Tuesday, but appreciated on Wednesday to close at 17.52 to the dollar. It was trading around that level on Thursday until the sudden drop.

Brad Bechtel, global head of foreign exchange at Jefferies Group investment bank, said that “volatility is going to be here to stay,” adding that “it could be a wild time” for the peso “for a while.”

The currency has depreciated about 5% this week.

Bloomberg reported Thursday that the results in the congressional elections “sent shockwaves across Mexican assets, with money managers rushing to cut their exposure to the peso.”

Citing strategists with the Macquarie financial group, the news agency added that “the post-vote reaction was likely exacerbated by a wave of stop-losses, given the currency was over-owned by speculative traders.”

Juan Perez, director of trading at Monex USA, said that the push by Morena to approve López Obrador’s proposed reforms has led to concerns that the ruling party could seek to make even more radical changes.

“The desire to go hard at reforms this way is a sign that perhaps Morena will push for items, enjoying the lack of checks and balances from opposition, to deviate from business interests that have helped in propping up what was the ‘super peso’ effect,” he said.

Miguel Iturribarria, a strategist at BBVA Mexico, said that among the reforms investors are most worried about are ones that seek to allow citizens to directly elect Supreme Court justices, change electoral laws and get rid of a number of autonomous agencies.

President-elect Sheinbaum sought to calm markets earlier this week by endorsing a set of economic commitments outlined by Finance Minister Rogelio Ramírez de la O, who has agreed to stay in his position after López Obrador leaves office.

She also pledged that her government would “act with dialogue, harmony and a lot of responsibility.”

Mier said that lawmakers would discuss the proposed reforms with Sheinbaum, adding that the outgoing government would participate in the talks as well.

With reports from Bloomberg, El Economista, Forbes México, Reforma and Milenio

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The Morena-party winner said on her social media channels that her plan is to recycle the signs and banners into eco-friendly construction materials — which she referred to in Spanish as “tabiques verdes” or “green bricks.” Brugada said they’ll be used to build the 100 community centers throughout Mexico City that she promised in her campaign. 

“Today we start with this call to all our supporters to take to the streets and remove the campaign materials from public spaces…” Brugada said in a press conference on Tuesday. “We are going to process all the banners and all the propaganda and remove it.”

The recovered materials would also be used to construct public furniture and other city infrastructure, Brugada said.

In May, just weeks before Mexico City’s elections took place on June 2, Greenpeace activists in the capital protested against these sorts of campaign materials posted by candidates for the city’s various local, state and federal elections each election cycle, calling them environmentally unfriendly “election trash” that’s rarely recovered by campaigns post-election, adding to the city’s refuse burden and often becoming street litter.

Brugada’s election trash cleanup campaign began on Tuesday morning, as the mayor-elect took to the streets in the Anzures neighborhood of the city’s Miguel Hidalgo borough. 

News outlet Animal Político contacted Brugada’s communication team twice to request more details about the recycling plan and the technology she would use to re-purpose her campaign materials but reported that Brugada’s team didn’t respond. However, one of the 12 community centers she built in the city’s Iztapalapa borough — the Utopia Libertad center — is constructed with recycled PET plastic and other repurposed materials, according to the Utopia Program website.

Brugada was the borough mayor of Iztapalapa until September 2023, when she resigned to run for Mexico City mayor.

Brugada hasn’t explained how she will collaborate with the local government in collecting the election trash. According to the Mexico City regulations, the General Directorate of Urban Services collects, manages and recycles the city’s solid waste. 

What are Clara Brugada’s Utopias?

During her mayoral campaign, Brugada promised to build 100 community centers modeled after the 12 she created during her time as borough mayor of Iztapalapa. 

Called Utopias, the Iztapalapa community centers offer recreational and educational classes and cultural activities to residents in a wide array of areas, ranging from art, digital design and theater to reading circles and film debate groups, therapeutic swimming and team sports.

Some Utopias also host flagship institutions open to the public such as a climate change museum, an aquarium and refuges for turtles and axolotls.

According to Brugada, each capital borough will host one Utopia, which would function “as a model of well-being and transformation of public space,” said the candidate. Each community center’s thematic focus would be different, including ones with environmental and rural themes and a women’s Utopia.

According to Brugada, each Utopia will cost 100 million pesos (US $5.6 million) to build.  

With reports from CNN en Español, Animal Político and El Financiero

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