What Claudia Sheinbaum’s victory might mean for Mexico

THE RESULTPD of Mexico’s presidential election, which was announced on June 2nd, is no surprise. Yet what happens next is still a cliffhanger. will become the country’s next president but it is far from clear whether she has the will or ability to break free of the policies or personal sway of her populist predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The coming struggle will influence the fate of 126m people but also has huge implications for migration, crime and trade in America, its giant northern neighbour.The country’s first female, and Jewish, president differs starkly from her predecessor in some respects, even though they belong to the same party, Morena. A climate scientist with a h in environmental engineering, she took a technocratic approach to crime as mayor of Mexico City, and worked with the private sector. Mr López Obrador, by contrast, governed by whim and bombast, berating businesspeople and indulging vested interests. The result was bad for Mexico.