Mexico elects Jewish woman president

Sheinbaum won with a lead of almost 30 per cent over her main rival, businesswoman Xóchitl Gálvez.

The presidential winner for the left-wing Morena Party will replace outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on 1 October.

Speaking after the result was declared Sheinbaum told voters: “I won’t fail you.”

Sheinbaum, who is a former energy scientist, has committed to build on the "advances" made by outgoing president Obrador.

In 2000 Obrador, who was serving as head of government of Mexico City, appointed Sheinbaum secretary of the environment for the capital.

She was elected as the mayor of Tlalpan, the largest borough in Mexico City, in 2015. Three years later, she was elected to serve a six-year term as mayor of Mexico City, arguably the second-most important role in Mexican politics, becoming the first Jewish person to hold the position.

Sheinbaum, a secular Jew, has said she is proud of her Jewish origins and spoken about celebrating “all the holidays” at her grandparents’ home. During the campaign, she has faced persistent misinformation on social media claiming, incorrectly, that she was born in Bulgaria, an allegation which her supporters have called antisemitic.

Sheinbaum's parents raised her in a Jewish home and she reportedly spoke Yiddish and ate Ashkenazi food growing up. Her second husband, who she married in November  is called Jesús María Tarriba.
Sheinbaum avoided talking about Israel and Palestine during the election campaign. But in January 2009, when Israel was fighting in Gaza she cited her Jewish background in  a letter to a Mexican newspaper.

“Because of my Jewish origin, because of my love for Mexico and because I feel like a citizen of the world, I share with millions the desire for justice, equality, fraternity and peace, and therefore, I can only see with horror the images of the state bombings,” she wrote. “No reason justifies the murder of Palestinian civilians … Nothing, nothing, nothing, can justify the murder of a child.”