First woman elected Mexico City mayor – exit polls

The candidate for mayor for Mexico City Claudia Sheinbaum of the “Juntos haremos historia” coalition party, gives her thumb up after voting during the general elections in Mexico City, on July 1, 2018. Sick of endemic corruption and horrific violence fueled by the country’s powerful drug cartels, Mexicans go to the polls seeking for any alternative to the two parties that have governed for nearly a century: the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the conservative National Action Party (PAN). / AFP PHOTO / BERNARDO MONTOYA

Mexico City, Mexico – Mexico City has elected a woman mayor for the first time in history, local politician and scientist Claudia Sheinbaum, exit polls indicated.

Sheinbaum, 56, won the election to lead North America’s largest city with between 47.5 and 55.5 percent of the vote, according to an estimate by polling firm Mitofsky.

A woman had previously served as mayor of the capital on an interim basis – Rosario Robles, from 1999 to 2000 – but Sheinbaum, who holds a doctorate in physics, is the first woman elected to the post.                  /kga