Gustavo A. Flores-Macías

Professor of Government

Gustavo Flores-Macías is a professor of government at Cornell University and an expert in Latin American politics. He discusses the significance of this vote and the upcoming challenges for Mexico’s next president.

Flores-Macías says:

“Mexico’s elections will have historic significance as they will most likely lead to the election of the country’s first female president. Claudia Sheinbaum, the candidate of the incumbent MORENA party and former mayor of Mexico City, commands a comfortable lead going into Sunday’s election against former senator Xóchitl Gálvez, the candidate of an awkward alliance of three parties across the right of center PAN, left of center PRD and center PRI.

“With a majority of Mexicans expressing optimism about the country’s direction and 60 percent approval of the country’s left-of-center president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), a key aspect will be the composition of Congress and whether MORENA achieves the two-thirds majority necessary to make changes to the Constitution, including a proposed reform to the Supreme Court.

“Although AMLO’s administration delivered results in terms of economic stability, regional inequality and public safety, the next president will face the challenge of addressing drug-related violence (especially femicides), improving living standards and navigating a complex US-Mexico relationship in the aftermath of the November elections in the United States.”