- Myanmar and China have lowest internet freedom, says study
- UK inflation hits three-year low, fuelling rate-cut hopes
- Pakistan tail frustrates England to reach 358-8 at lunch
- Discovery of Shackleton's lost shipwreck brought to big screen
- Markets mixed after Wall Street losses as tech fears weigh
- World heading into 'the Age of Electricity': IEA
- Spiralling Sudan bloodshed sparks refugee surge into Chad
- Lee wary of Ko challenge at BMW Ladies in South Korea
- Kenya Senate begins debate on deputy president impeachment
- Italy's migration policy under far-right Meloni
- Israel strikes Beirut after rejecting ceasefire
- New assisted dying bill introduced in UK parliament
- China set to post slowest quarterly growth this year: analysts
- The Bishnoi gang: the notorious syndicate Canada says is India's proxy
- Fake AI history photos cloud the past
- First defeat for Pochettino as US beaten 2-0 in Mexico
- 'Mysterious black balls' close Sydney beaches
- First loss for Poch as US beaten in Mexico
- South Korea's Han sells one million books after Nobel win
- Israel strikes south Beirut after Netanyahu vows 'no ceasefire'
- Yankees outlast Guardians for 2-0 lead in MLB playoff series
- Three elements that shaped Thierry Neuville's drive to win
- Rugby's red card rift splitting opinions across the world
- North Korea claims more than a million people joined army this week
- Asian markets track Wall Street losses on worries over tech rally
- Climate change solutions not always good for biodiversity
- In Indonesia, French poet Rimbaud's voyage still a mystery
- Vintage Messi nets hat trick as Argentina hit Bolivia for six
- Record number of women run for Japan general election
- India's fireworks boom ahead of Hindu festival of lights
- Egyptian geese spread wings in France, threatening biodiversity
- Canada marine protection plan aims to serve as global model
- Lab-grown frogs: a Colombian's response to wildlife trafficking
- Hissed off: San Juan cat removal plan prompts outcry, lawsuit
- TV channels in Afghan province stop showing living things
- Infighting and inflation ahead of Iraqi Kurdistan vote
- Stylish Colombia put four past Chile, Sanabria double for Paraguay
- 'Nowhere is safe': Lebanon Christian villiage reels from Israel strike
- Portrait by humanoid robot to sell at auction in art world first
- Mexico touts foreign investments as IMF warns about reforms
- 'Ainadamar' brings death and dance to the Met Opera
- Trump's crypto platform falters on first day of sales
- Stylish Colombia put four past hapless Chile
- NFL owners approve Brady becoming part-owner of Raiders
- Spain reach Nations League quarters, Ronaldo's Portugal held by Scotland
- NFL Jets reunite Adams with Rodgers as Bills add Cooper
- Angola, Egypt, Senegal qualify, but Ghana in trouble
- Ronaldo frustrated as Scotland hold Portugal
- United announces $1.5 bn share buyback as earnings top estimates
- Spain thump Serbia to reach Nations League quarter-finals
RBGPF | 100% | 60.71 | $ | |
NGG | 0.4% | 67.16 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.68% | 24.86 | $ | |
BCC | -0.53% | 142.23 | $ | |
SCS | -0.23% | 12.95 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.33% | 25.062 | $ | |
GSK | -0.44% | 38.96 | $ | |
RIO | -1.85% | 66.47 | $ | |
RELX | 1.74% | 48.22 | $ | |
BCE | 2.54% | 33.41 | $ | |
JRI | -0.43% | 13.03 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0.28% | 7.05 | $ | |
VOD | -0.41% | 9.64 | $ | |
BTI | -0.11% | 35.41 | $ | |
AZN | -0.32% | 77.85 | $ | |
BP | -4.07% | 30.74 | $ |
Women lead race as Mexicans vote for new president
Mexicans started voting Sunday in a presidential election dominated by two women -- a historic first in a country with a history of gender-based violence and discrimination.
Ruling party candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, a former Mexico City mayor and a scientist by training, had a 17 percentage point lead over her main opposition rival Xochitl Galvez on the eve of the vote.
The only man running, centrist Jorge Alvarez Maynez, was trailing far behind as a particularly violent campaign season marked by a string of candidate murders drew to an end.
It means that, barring a huge surprise, a woman is almost certain to break the highest political glass ceiling in Mexico, where around 10 women or girls are murdered every day.
That prospect motivates other women to succeed and to think "yes, you can," said Blanca Sosa, a 31-year-old store worker in Mexico City.
She expects Sheinbaum to continue the "good things" done by outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, such as pensions for the elderly and an increased minimum wage.
Ricardo Sanchez, however, said he planned to vote for Galvez because of her "business vision."
Lopez Obrador's "policy of putting the poor first is to ruin us all so that we're poor and then he gives to us," the 55-year-old businessman said in the northern city of Monterrey.
Sheinbaum, 61, owes much of her popularity to Lopez Obrador, a fellow leftist and mentor who has an approval rating of more than 60 percent but is only allowed to serve one term.
- Blood-soaked campaign -
Nearly 100 million people were registered to vote in the world's most populous Spanish-speaking country, home to 129 million people.
Polls opened at 08:00 am (1300 GMT) in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo and some areas near the US border, with other regions in different time zones due to follow later.
Thousands of troops will be deployed to protect voters from ultra-violent drug cartels that have gone to extreme lengths to ensure their preferred candidates win.
More than two dozen aspiring local politicians have been murdered during the election process, according to official figures, in a nation where politics, crime and corruption are closely entangled.
In a sign of the difficulties of staging elections in cartel hotspots, voting was suspended in two southern municipalities because of violence, local authorities said Saturday.
"The fight against organized crime will be the biggest challenge for the next president," said Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a professor at George Mason University, in the United States.
Security was the weakest point of Lopez Obrador's administration, she told AFP.
Sheinbaum has pledged to continue the outgoing president's controversial "hugs not bullets" strategy of tackling crime at its roots.
Galvez has vowed a tougher approach to cartel-related violence, declaring "hugs for criminals are over."
More than 450,000 people have been murdered and tens of thousands have gone missing since the government deployed the army to fight drug trafficking in 2006.
The next president will also have to manage delicate relations with the neighboring United States, in particular the vexed issues of cross-border drug smuggling and migration.
- 'Not alone' -
Addressing a cheering crowd of thousands at her closing campaign rally, Sheinbaum said Mexico was going to "make history" this weekend.
"I say to the young women, to all the women of Mexico -- colleagues, friends, sisters, daughters, mothers and grandmothers -- you are not alone," she said.
The ruling party candidate had the backing of 53 percent of voters as campaigning drew to a close, according to a poll average compiled by research firm Oraculus.
Galvez, an outspoken senator and businesswoman with Indigenous roots, was second with 36 percent. Maynez, 38, had just 11 percent.
Galvez, 61, often evokes her childhood story of growing up in a poor, rural town in central Mexico where she says she sold candy to help her family.
"While you danced ballet at the age of 10, I had to work," she told Sheinbaum, a former student activist who was born in the capital to a family of Jewish immigrants.
While millions of Mexicans have escaped poverty in recent years, more than a third still live below the poverty line in Latin America's second-biggest economy.
As well as voting for a new president, Mexicans will choose members of Congress, several state governors and myriad local officials.
In total, more than 20,000 positions were being contested.
A.Malone--AMWN