Hundreds of Mexican nationals lined up outside the Mexican Consulate General in Los Angeles on Sunday to cast their votes in an election that could elect the first female president in the country’s history.
People started lining up to vote as early as 4 a.m. at the consulate office in the 2400 block of West Sixth Street, near MacArthur Park. The area was packed with street vendors selling tortillas, fruit and ice cream, and people erupted in cheers every time voters emerged from inside after casting their votes.
Many wore Mexican flags and waited patiently for mariachi music to play from the park across the street, eager to take part in a historic decision they believed would change Mexico’s political landscape. Similar scenes played out Sunday at consulates across Mexico.
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1. People lined up outside the Mexican consulate to vote on Sunday. 2. Irma Celine Hernandez Adondo waits to cast her vote outside the Mexican consulate. (Danya Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) 3. Antonio Guerrero poses for a photo while waiting to cast his vote outside the Mexican consulate. (Danya Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
“We want to be part of the wave of ending corruption,” said voter Antonio Garcia, with a Mexican flag around his neck. “We’ve seen a lot of changes in Mexico over the past six years that have worsened the country’s position.”
Garcia, who has lived in the country for 22 years, said he called his mother in Tijuana this morning and she said she was ready to vote. He also received a text message from his sister asking if he was going to the consulate.
Claudia Scheinbaum, a protege of President Andres Manuel López Obrador and a former candidate for mayor of Mexico City, is very likely to win the election — by a large margin She was promoted because she has vowed to advance Obrador’s signature projects, including welfare programs and judicial reform.
Obrador did not participate in the vote, but Sunday’s vote was widely seen as a referendum on Obrador Popular but polarizing president Known for lifting millions of Mexicans out of poverty while weakening some of the country’s key institutions, Embolden the army Failure to curb the spread of brutal gang violence.
On Sunday, people could be seen lining up since early morning outside the Mexican consulate waiting to vote.
(Danya Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
Scheinbaum’s main rival, Xochitl Galvez, An entrepreneur and former senator representing the opposition coalition is trying to capitalize on upper-middle-class dissatisfaction with the current president, better known by his initials “AMLO.”
Sunday’s election is the largest in Mexico’s history. In addition to the new president, voters will elect 128 senators, 500 congressional representatives, eight governors and the mayor of Mexico City, as well as thousands of local officials. Mexican presidents serve six-year terms.
Meanwhile, Laura Torres, who arrived at the Los Angeles consulate with a group from Garcia and Oxnard on Sunday, said they had been waiting six hours to vote and would wait another six if necessary. Hour. The group plans to vote for Sheinbaum.
“We are here to support Mexico. The last six-year term was much better than before,” Torres said of the election. “We are happy to vote, even in another place that is not ours. We are proud.
Valeria Jaregui (left) and Carolina Montemayor (right) pose for a photo while waiting to cast their vote outside the Mexican consulate on Sunday.
(Danya Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
Valeria Jauregui and Carolina Montemayor are both 21-year-old performing arts majors at AMDA School of Performing Arts from Monterrey, Mexico. They lined up to vote for Galvez.
“It’s important for us young people to do this because we are the future of our country,” Jauregui said. “This country is in a fragile state and all we can do is get involved and make our voices heard.”
Two students said they voted for Galvez over Scheinbaum because they believed Morena badly needed change and they felt Morena’s leadership “wasn’t working.”
Arriving at 6 a.m., students thought they would finish voting and go to breakfast in a few hours, but they were still waiting in line until noon. Still, they were happy to vote for the country’s first female president and be a part of history.
On Sunday, people could be seen lining up since early morning outside the Mexican consulate waiting to vote.
(Danya Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
“A female president is progress for the country and hopefully good for the country,” Montemayor said. “We are in the midst of a feminist movement and that will definitely affect some changes.”
Staff writers Patrick J. McDonnell and Kate Linthicum contributed to this report.
