In Mexico’s general election of June 2nd, Claudia Sheinbaum, of current president AMLO’s MORENA party, won handily.
In the same election, the entire Mexican Congress was up for grabs.
MORENA and its coalition also won a majority in both chambers of Congress.
THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES
The lower house is the Cámara de Diputados, the Chamber of Deputies, equivalent to the U.S. House of Representatives. It has 500 representatives, and meets here in the Palacio Legislativo de San Lázaro:
In the Chamber of Deputies, MORENA’s coalition (including MORENA, the Labor Party and the Green Party) won 372 seats out of 500. That’s higher than the 334 seats which would give them a two-thirds super-majority.
THE SENATE
The upper house is the Senado, the Senate, equivalent to the U.S. Senate. It has 128 senators, and meets here:
In the Senate, the MORENA coalition (MORENA, Green Party and Labor Party) won 83 seats out of 128. That’s two seats short of the 85 required for a two-thirds super-majority.
RAMIFICATIONS AND DEVELOPMENTS
It takes a two-thirds super-majority in both houses to amend the Mexican Constitution. In the new Congress, set to take office September 1st, the MORENA coalition has the super-majority in the lower chamber and only lacks two votes to have it in the upper chamber. This gives MORENA, which also has the presidency, great power.
Current president AMLO is not a lame duck and still has things he wants to accomplish. AMLO wants to pass a number of reforms in the month of September, his last month as president and the first month of the new Congress.
With its legislative and executive power, the MORENA party could extend its power even more by taking away power from more independent elements of the government, including the Supreme Court and the INE (the election agency). This is concerning to many.
Apparently, it’s a concern to the markets, as well. Since the election, both Mexico’s stock exchange and the peso have dropped.
The MORENA party, founded by AMLO himself, has only been a registered political party for ten years, since 2014. Now it’s the biggest and most powerful party in Mexico.
The Mexican election of 2024, held on June 2nd, 2024, was won by Claudia Sheinbaum of the MORENA party. She is scheduled to assume the presidency on the 1st of October, as Mexico’s first woman president and Mexico’s first Jewish president.
CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM (on left in photo). Candidate of the MORENA/PT/GREEN coalition.
XOCHITL GALVEZ (in middle in photo). Candidate of the PAN/PRI/PRD coalition.
JORGE ALVAREZ MAYNEZ (on right in photo). Candidate of the Movimiento Ciudadano party.
Here are the results, according to INE (Instituto National Electoral), the Mexican national electoral agency:
CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM received 35,924,519 votes, which was 59.7594 % of the total.
XOCHITL GALVEZ received 16,502,697 votes, which was 27.4517 % of the total.
JORGE ALVAREZ MAYNEZ received 6,204,710 votes, which was 10.3213% of the total.
So Claudia Sheinbaum won the election very handily. She won in every state except the central state of Aguascalientes, where Xochitl Galvez won narrowly.
When she went to vote on June 2nd, Claudia Sheinbaum was so confident of victory that she didn’t even vote for herself!
After voting, she announced that she had voted for Ifigenia Martinez.
Ifigenia Martinez is a Mexican politician, diplomat and academic who was was head of the school of Economics at UNAM, the National Autonomous University of Mexico, from 1966 to 1970. During the political unrest of 1968, she defended her school when the Mexican Army took control of parts of the UNAM. Sheinbaum respects her for this and thus voted for her as an homage to her.
It appears then that Claudia was confident enough of victory to do this.
MEXICO CITY
Mexico City is not a state, but it’s the equivalent of a state. Its elected leader is not called a governor, but the Jefe (for a man) or Jefa (for a woman) de Gobierno, the “Chief of Government”.
In this election, the post was won by Clara Brugada, of the MORENA/Green/PT coalition. She is scheduled to take office on October 5th.
There were 8 state governorships up for grabs, and the MORENA/PT/Green party won 6 of them: Chiapas, Morelos, Puebla, Tabasco, Veracruz and Yucatan state. Movimiento Ciudadano won in the state of Jalisco and the PAN/PRI/PRD coalition won in Guanajuato.
THE MEXICAN CONGRESS
The MORENA/PT/Green alliance also did quite well in congressional elections, winning a majority in both houses of Congress. The new Congress begins its term on September 1st, which is one month before Claudia Sheinbaum takes office on October 1st. That means that for one month, September of 2024, the new Congress would be working with current President AMLO, in his final month in office.
Mexico has a presidential election every six years. The U.S.A. has a presidential election every four years.
Therefore, every 12 years, Mexico and the U.S. have elections the same year. This year, 2024, is one of those years.
Election Day in the U.S.A. is scheduled for November 5th. The two major candidates are Joe Biden and Donald Trump, in a rematch from four years ago.
Joe Biden (left), Donald Trump (right). Source: NOLA.com
Election Day in Mexico is scheduled for June 2nd. The two major candidates are Claudia Sheinbaum and Xochitl Galvez. (Click here for background information on the candidates).
Claudia Sheinbaum (left), Xochitl Galvez (right). Source: Fernando Llano
Since both Mexico and the U.S. have a presidential election this year, it is interesting to compare and contrast elections in the two countries.
In both countries, candidates appeal to the voters. They campaign publicly across the country with personal appearances, campaign signs, and radio and TV ads. They make promises, they dispute with their opponents, and take part in debates. There are opinion polls, and pundits in the media discuss the election.
On Election Day, voters go to the polls and choose the president by secret ballot. In both countries, elections for Congress are simultaneously held, plus gubernatorial and legislative elections in various states.
DIFFERENCES
Elections in the U.S. are held on Tuesdays, elections in Mexico on Sundays.
In the U.S., a president can be elected to two presidential terms, for a total of eight years. In Mexico, the president is barred from reelection, so he serves for six years and then can’t run again.
The United States has an Electoral College system, which apportions votes to states, depending upon their respective populations. That’s why election reports, maps and state-by-state reports are so critical.
In Mexico the winner is chosen nationally, by plurality. Whichever candidate has a plurality of the votes — not necessarily a majority — is the winner.
Due to the existence of the Electoral College in the US, elections are handled at the state level. It’s as if there are 51 simultaneous elections taking place in the 50 states and District of Columbia. There is a Federal Election Commission, but it oversees campaign finance.
In Mexico, the election is truly a unitary national election, overseen by INE, the Instituto Nacional Electoral. There is also a special electoral court system, the TEPJF (Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación).
In the United States, the presidential election is held in early November (the 5th this year) and the winner takes office the following January 20th. Although that’s only two and a half months later, Inauguration Day falls in a different calendar year than the election. That’s confusing to some people.
This year in Mexico, the election is scheduled for June 2nd and the winner is set to take office on October 1st, both dates in 2024.
CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS
Although the presidential race gets more attention, congressional elections are important in both countries. There are similarities and differences.
Each country has a bicameral Congress. In the US, the two chambers are known as the Senate and the House of Representatives. In Mexico, they are the Senado and the Cámara de Diputados.
The US Congress has 100 senators (two for each state) and 435 representatives. The Mexican Congress has 128 senadores and 500 diputados.
In the US, every single representative must be elected or reelected every two years, while senators have six-year terms. That means every two years, a third of the senators are up for election.
In Mexico, diputados are elected for three-year terms and senadores for six-year terms. The term of a senador is concurrent with that of the president. So all senadores are up for a vote this year. And so are all the diputados this year, for three-year terms.
Congressional mid-term elections in the US occur at two-year intervals. There was a mid-term election in 2022, and another one is scheduled for 2026.
In Mexico, the mid-terms are every three years. There was a mid-term election in 2021, and another is scheduled for 2027.
In the US Congress, every senator represents a state and every representative represents a district.
In Mexico, it’s a little more complicated.
In the Cámara de Diputados, 300 of the 500 diputados are elected by their districts, while 200 are chosen through proportional representation. In proportional representation, seats are allocated based on the percentage of votes received by a political party nationwide.
In the Mexican Senado, there are three senadores from each of Mexico’s 31 states, and three from Mexico City.
Political parties run candidates for the Senado in pairs. The pair which receives the most votes is elected to the Senado to represent that particular state. The state’s other senador is from the political party that came in second in that state’s senatorial election.
All these senadores account for 96 of the total. The other 32 are chosen by proportional representation, based on the nationwide vote.
VOTER REGISTRATION AND VOTER ID
Mexico’s voter registration and voter ID system is much tighter than that of the US.
In the U.S., much depends on the state. The federal government does not require states to require documentation to prove citizenship for those registering to vote.
On an election day, 14 states and the District of Columbia don’t require identification of any kind from the voters. Only 13 U.S. states require photo voter ID.
In Mexico, voters must provide proof of citizenship in order to register to vote.
Each Mexican voter is provided with a government-supplied voter ID card, which includes the voter’s photograph, fingerprints, and a holographic image. The voter must produce this card when showing up to vote.
The polling station workers have a book with the photograph of every single voter in the precinct. They can check that book against the photo on the ID card. After voting, the voter’s thumb is smudged with ink, to prevent repeat voting. (The ink wears off after a few days).
I have observed Mexican voting firsthand, although of course, as a U.S. citizen I did not vote in Mexico.
I find the Mexican voter registration system impressive and superior to ours. We can learn from Mexico, and it would be beneficial for U.S. states to adopt elements of the Mexican voter registration system.
CONCLUSION
The U.S. and Mexico both have elections this year. A comparative study of the two nations’ voting systems is interesting and instructive. By learning how the other country votes, we can better understand what is going on there.
On May 19th, 2024, the three Mexican presidential candidates participated in their third and final presidential debate. (The election is scheduled for June 2nd).
For my reports on the first and second debates, click here and here.
The three candidates in the debates were Claudia Sheinbaum of the incumbent president’s MORENA party, Xochitl Galvez of the PAN/PRI/PRD coalition, and Jorge Alvarez Maynez of the Movimiento Ciudadano.
Candidates left to right: Jorge Alvarez Maynez, Xochitl Galvez, Claudia Sheinbaum. Source: INE
One of the topics of the third debate was immigration. This is not surprising, as Mexico deals with immigration in three ways: 1) Mexico is a source of immigrants, mostly to the United States. 2) Mexico is a thoroughfare of migrants passing through its territory, mostly to get to the United States. 3) Mexico is a destination of some immigrants, who wind up living in Mexico.
Mexico’s political elite pays close attention to immigration politics in the United States and actually intervenes in U.S. politics to further the interests of the Mexican government on U.S. soil.
Here are some relevant quotes from Mexican candidates in the third debate.
MEXICO’S SOUTHERN BORDER When asked about the flow of migrants from Latin America into Mexico, Candidate Xochitl Galvez said that “The first thing is, we must be clear that today the southern border is in the hands of the criminals. Today the criminals control migration and that is very serious.”
REMITTANCES – Mexicans in the U.S. send billions in remittances back to Mexico, which amounted to 63.3 billion dollars last year. Claudia Sheinbaum said “First, I want to greet the male Mexicans and female Mexicans abroad, particularly the fellow Mexicans in the United States….to thank them for the remittances that they send to our country.”
TRUMP – Alvarez Maynez said that “Mexico needs firmness and intelligence in its relationship with the United States, especially if a racist such as Trump comes to power.“
TRUMP POLICIES AND ILLEGAL ALIEN AMNESTY As U.S. president, Donald Trump used his foreign policy authority to get Mexico to reduce the quantity of migrants passing through Mexican territory on the way to the U.S. and take back migrants in the Remain in Mexico program. Opposition Candidate Xochitl Galvez thinks the current government did too much for Trump with nothing in return : “The migratory policy of MORENA (party of the current government) is hypocritical. The Fourth Transformation (current government) folded before Donald Trump, accepting the return of migrants from other countries, without demanding, at least, that there would be a regularization (amnesty) of our fellow Mexicans who live in the United States.”
Xochitl Galvez is saying that Mexico shouldn’t have cooperated with Trump without demanding amnesty for illegal alien Mexicans in the United States. And she had more to say about that subject: “We are going to demand a program of regularization for the migrants in the United States [amnesty for illegal aliens]“
FOREIGN WORKERS IN THE UNITED STATES Xochitl Galvez : “…[W]e are going to broaden the program of workers in the United States…” [You would think that would be the business of the U.S. Congress.]
MEXICAN CONSULATES Mexico has 52 consulates on U.S. soil, the biggest consular network in the world. Xochitl Galvez pledged “to grant resources to the consulates” by which she means “more money”.
MEXICANS IN THE UNITED STATES: This is an important issue that many Americans don’t understand. Consider the words of all three candidates:
CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM: “First, I want to greet the male Mexicans and female Mexicans who are abroad, particularly the fellow Mexicans who are in the United States, more than 30 million Mexicans....”
JORGE ALVAREZ MAYNEZ: “Mexico is much more than its territory, not only are we the 130 million persons who live here, we are also the 40 million male Mexicans and female Mexicans who live in all the world.”
XOCHITL GALVEZ : “Mexico is a country of 170 million inhabitants divided by a river.”
So all 3 candidates, despite their differences, regard Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, even those born in the United States, as essentially Mexican, even if they have U.S. citizenship. This is also Mexican government policy.
It’s understandable that the Mexican government promotes such a policy. However, should the U.S. government encourage it?
Shouldn’t U.S. immigration and citizenship policies take this Mexican policy into account?
On April 28th, the second Mexican presidential debate of 2024 was held. Click here to see the transcript of the debate.
I’m reminded of a Spanish-language proverb: El prometer no empobrece — El dar es loque aniquila – “To promise does not impoverish — To give is what annihilates”.
These three candidates were making plenty of promises, without bothering to explain how it would all be paid for.
The three candidates: Claudia Sheinbaum of MORENA and allies, Xochitl Galvez of the PAN/PRI/PRD coalition and Jorge Alvarez Maynez of the Movimiento Ciudadano party.
An April 14th Bloomberg poll tracker had the candidates with these percentages: Sheinbaum 58% ; Galvez 33% ; Alvarez Maynez 9% .
The second debate was held April 28th.
Second Debate: Galvez, Sheinbaum, Alvarez Maynez. Source: Debate Sinaloa
The strategy of each candidate was predictable.
Claudia Sheinbaum, of the incumbent MORENA party, is for a continuation of the policies of current president AMLO, the so-called Fourth Transformation.
As an opposition candidate, Xochitl Galvez has to attack the current government, especially Sheinbaum’s term as Mexico City mayor.
Jorge Alvarez Maynez, the only male candidate, represents a small political party, is way behind in the polls and is about 25 years younger than the two female candidates, who ignored him.
These factors made Jorge seem like a younger brother trying to steal attention from two talkative older sisters. So Jorge made a lot of promises! One was a “cultural scholarship” for young people which would give them money to attend concerts. Sounds nice.
The two women, the front-runners, went at each other hammer and tongs, ignoring poor little brother Jorge.
Xochitl called Claudia the Candidate of Lies and accused her of stealing a house.
All three candidates held up signs from time to time. One (held by Xochitl) simply read “Claudia lies”.
While Claudia was talking, Xochitl was holding that sign up and was called out by moderator Adriana Pérez Cañedo, who told her you can’t hold up a sign when it’s not your turn to talk.
Xochitl skillfully responded to a question about the economy by talking about extortion. She said that “the criminals charge protection money from avocado producers in Michoacan, sugar producers in Veracruz and chicken distributors in the state of Mexico. The MORENA party has abandoned you by not fighting the criminals… as president I am going to punish the criminals, the extortion is going to end.”
How big an effect will this debate have on the outcome of the election? It’s a little over a month away.
Nineteen feral cats living in Mexico’s National Palace have been adopted by the government and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has declared them “living fixed assets”, the first animals to be designated such under Mexican law.
The National Palace (Palacio Nacional) is a massive building in downtown Mexico City’s Zocalo plaza, which has served as a capitol building throughout Mexican history. It currently houses part of the federal executive government and includes an apartment which is the residence of President AMLO. (For more history of the building click here and scroll down to “Palacio Nacional”.)
There is a photo of the National Palace at the top of this website. Here is another one, which was taken on our family’s visit:
Obviously, this building is ideal for cats. The palace also includes a 300 square meter apartment in which President AMLO resides with his wife Beatriz and their son.
For years, the National Palace has been infested with feral cats, and employees there have fed them on their own. Eventually veterinarians were brought in to vaccinate and sterilize cats, and even to install chips in the cats to monitor them. Besides being fed, little houses have been made for the cats.
In July of 2023, a cat was even filmed wandering into a press conference. (That cat died of old age last month.)
In April 0f 2024, AMLO took things a step further. As reported in Proceso on April 3rd, “By order of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, 19 cats that inhabit the National Palace will be officially recognized as ‘activos fijos vivos (living fixed assets)’. The measure guarantees a budget dedicated specifically to their feeding and health care for life.” [my translation]
The cat’s names are Panza, Ruffino, Topacio, Yema, Nube, Leona, Ollin, Bowie, Balam, Coco, Roja, Bellof, Princesa, Esponjoso, Ikal, Monita, Scar, Tigre and Bombón.
As explained by the Associated Press, “The investment term ‘fixed assets’ usually applies to buildings and furniture, but by applying it to cats, López Obrador’s government has obligated the country’s Treasury to give them food and care for them for the rest of their lives, even after the leader leaves office in October.”
Ingrid Newkirk, president of the PETA organization (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) wrote a letter to AMLO commending him for taking this legal action.
(By the way, there’s a Mexican connection to PETA’s origin. The organization was founded in 1980 by British-born Ingrid Newkirk and Alex Pacheco. Pacheco was U.S.-born but his father was Mexican, and Alex was raised in Mexico).
In her letter to AMLO, Ingrid Newkirk said she was also sending cat toys and vegan treats for those feline “living fixed assets” in the palace, and she closed the letter thusly: “Every animal is somebody!”
One question though: Since these 19 cats all made their way into the palace on their own, what prevents other feral cats from doing so, especially when they discover what a great deal these cats have?
Will other cats also be declared “living fixed assets” or will they be feline illegal aliens?
All three candidates participated: Claudia Sheinbaum of MORENA and allies, Xochitl Galvez of the PAN/PRI/PRD coalition and Jorge Alvarez Maynez of the Movimiento Ciudadano party.
The strategies of each candidate were predictable. Sheinbaum is for a continuation of the policies of current president AMLO. Galvez has to attack the current government, especially attacking Sheinbaum’s term as Mexico City mayor and Sheinbaum personally. As for Alvarez Maynez, the only male candidate, he was trying to get attention.
Mexico has a presidential election every six years, and the United States every four years.
Every 12 years, therefore, Mexico and the United States have a presidential election the same year.
This year, 2024, is one of those years.
The Mexican election of 2024 is scheduled for June 2nd.
To win the Mexican election, a candidate must win a plurality of the popular vote.
There are two major candidates for president, and both are women. That means it is most likely that before this year is over, Mexico will have its first female president.
The two principal candidates are Claudia Sheinbaum and Xochitl Galvez.
Claudia Sheinbaum is the candidate of MORENA, the political party of current president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO). Two smaller parties, the Labor Party and the Green Party, are in coalition with MORENA in the Sigamos Haciendo Historia (Let’s Keep Making History) alliance.
Sheinbaum was born in 1962 in Mexico City.
She is an ethnic Jew, though apparently does not practice Judaism as a religion. Her father was an Ashkenazi Jew and her mother a Sephardi Jew.
A scientist, Sheinbaum studied physics in Mexico’s UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) and earned her PhD in energy engineering at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California in the U.S.A.
Dr. Sheinbaum has written more than 100 articles and two books dealing with energy, environment and sustainable development.
In 2007, Dr. Sheinbaum was on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) at the United Nations in the field of energy and industry and was part of a group that won the Nobel Peace Prize.
From 2000 to 2006, Dr. Sheinbaum was Mexico City’s Secretary of the Environment. From 2015 to 2017 she was mayor of Tlalpan, a borough in Mexico City.
From 2018 to 2023, Claudia Sheinbaum was Mayor of Mexico City.
Xochitl Galvez is the candidate of the Fuerza y Corazón por México (Strength and Heart for Mexico) alliance, formed by three parties: the PAN, the PRI and the PRD.
Xochitl Galvez was born in the central state of Hidalgo in 1963. Her father was Otomi Indian and her mother mestizo (mixed Otomi and European).
She studied computer engineering at the UNAM.
Xochitl Galvez was an entrepreneur, founding a technology company called High Tech Services. This company dealt with such things as designing intelligent buildings, saving energy, automation, telecoms and security.
She also started a company called OMEI, which dealt with intelligent infrastructures.
Recognitions for her work include being named as one of 100 Global Leaders of the World’s Future at the World Economic Forum Davos in 1999 and as one of 25 Latin America’s New Business Elite by Business Week in 2000.
In 1995 she founded the Porvenir Foundation to fight child malnutrition and help women in areas of Mexico with large indigenous populations.
In the Mexican federal government she directed the Instituto Nacional de los Pueblos Indígenas (the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples) from 2000 to 2006.
From 2015 to 2018 Galvez was mayor of Miguel Hidalgo, a borough in Mexico City. She was a Mexican Senator from 2018 to 2023.
Jorge Alvarez Maynez , the male candidate, is standard bearer of the Movimiento Ciudadano (Citizen Movement Party).
Alvarez was born in the northern city of Zacatecas, in Zacatecas State, and served in the Mexican Congress from 2015 to 2018 and 2021 to 2024.
In 2022, Alvarez Maynez and 3 other Mexican congressional representatives traveled to Ukraine, having been invited by the Ukrainian Parliament.
WHO WILL WIN?
Currently, Dr. Sheinbaum is winning in the polls. But things could change.
Recent poll results:
Reforma Poll (March 6th-12, 1000 adults ); After 17% with no preference were subtracted, 58% of those remaining supported Sheinbaum and 34% supported Galvez.
Oraculus Poll (as of March 20): Sheinbaum 60%; Galvez 34%; Alvarez Maynez 6%.
The vaquita lives in the northern part of the Sea of Cortes (pictured on the right), also called the Gulf of California or Vermilion Sea, a body of water lying between the Mexican mainland and the Baja California peninsula.
The term vaquita is Spanish for “little cow” and the vaquita is the smallest and rarest type of porpoise. It has only been known to science since the 1950s.
The vaquita is now in imminent danger of extinction.
Here are some vaquita population estimates from recent years demonstrating the drastic decrease:
1997 – 567 vaquitas 2007 – 150 vaquitas 2015 – 59 vaquitas 2016 – 30 vaquitas 2018 – fewer than 19 2022 – fewer than ten, maybe just 7 or 8 Why has there been such a precipitous decline?
The main killers of the vaquita are fishing nets. But not fishing nets intended to trap the vaquita.
The fishing nets are those being used to trap the totoaba fish, also endemic to the Sea of Cortes and also endangered.
The totoaba swim bladder (pictured left) is in high demand in China and elsewhere in Asia.
This in turn drives an illegal and profitable trade in the totoaba, called the “cocaine of the sea”.
Totoaba swim bladders can fetch thousands of dollars per kilogram.
Vaquitas get entangled in the nets intended for the totoaba. As mammals, vaquitas need their oxygen. They can’t stay under water indefinitely and they die.
Even in ideal circumstances the vaquita has a slow reproductive cycle. The time between births for a mother vaquita ranges from 1 to 2 years.
In 2023, there was some cause for hope. A survey conducted by the Sea Shepherd organization observed the vaquita area and reported the existence of 10 to 13 vaquitas. That total included at least one vaquita calf, a newborn. A calf was spotted twice, so it was either the same calf twice or two calves.
The Mexican Navy has installed concrete blocks with curved arms in the water. The purpose is to catch discarded floating nets which can endanger the vaquita.
There is a Zero Tolerance Area in which illegal fishing had been reduced by 90% (as of April 2023).
However, in February of 2024 it was reported that the trafficking of totoaba swim bladders are on the increase online.
And most swim bladders aren’t even sold individually online but in bulk movements of several hundred.
Suffice it to say there’s a high demand for the product. Which still endangers the vaquita and the totoaba.
The Blue Whale survived near extinction and increased in population. But it had a much larger range (most of the world’s oceans). Vaquitas only live in one area.
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