Hundreds of Mexican citizens lined up outside the Mexican Consulate in Los Angeles on Sunday to vote in an election that is likely to crown Mexico's first ever female president.
People began lining up as early as 4 a.m. to vote at the consulate's office at 2400 West 6th Street near McCaher Park. The area was filled with stalls selling tacos, fruit and ice cream, and people cheered as voters emerged after casting their ballots.
As mariachi music blared from a park across the street, many people draped in Mexican flags waited patiently to take part in a historic decision that they said would change Mexico's political landscape. Similar scenes were seen at Mexican consulates across the country on Sunday.
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1. On Sunday, lines of people could be seen outside the Mexican consulate waiting to vote. 2. Irma Selene Hernández Atondo waits outside the Mexican Consulate to vote. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times) 3. Antonio Guerrero poses for a portrait while waiting to vote outside the Mexican Consulate. (Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
“We want to be part of the movement to end corruption,” said Antonio Garcia, a voter wearing a Mexican flag around his neck. “In the last six years, Mexico has seen a lot of changes that have worsened the country's standing.”
Garcia, who has lived in the country for 22 years, said she called her mother in Tijuana this morning, who told her she was ready to vote, and that she also received a text from her sister asking if she was heading to the consulate.
Claudia Sheinbaum, a former Mexico City mayor and protégé of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, is the favorite to win the election because she has vowed to promote the president's signature projects, including welfare programs and efforts to reform the justice system.
Mr. Obrador is not on the ballot, but Sunday's votes A popular but controversial president He is credited with lifting millions of Mexicans out of poverty while undermining some of Mexico's key institutions. Encourage the troops It has failed to stem the tide of brutal gang violence.
On Sunday, lines of people could be seen outside the Mexican consulate from early in the morning waiting to vote.
(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
Scheinbaum's greatest enemy is Xochitl Galvez, The entrepreneur and former senator, who heads the opposition coalition, has sought to exploit middle- and upper-class resentment against the president, widely known by his initials AMLO.
Sunday's election will be the biggest in Mexico's history. Voters will choose a new president, as well as 128 senators, 500 members of the House of Representatives, eight state governors, the Mexico City mayor and thousands of local officials. The Mexican president will serve a six-year term.
Meanwhile, Laura Torres, who arrived at the Los Angeles consulate on Sunday with Garcia and a group from Oxnard, said she plans to wait six hours to vote, and another six if necessary. The group plans to vote for Sheinbaum.
“We are here to support Mexico, which has come out of these six years in office much better than it was before,” Torres said of the election. “Even if we vote in another country, not our country, we will be very happy to vote. We are proud.”
Valeria Jauregui (left) and Carolina Montemayor (right) pose for a portrait while waiting to vote outside the Mexican Consulate on Sunday.
(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
Valeria Jauregui and Carolina Montemayor, both 21, are performing arts students from Monterrey, Mexico, studying at the AMDA University of Performing Arts, and they planned to vote for Galvez.
“It's important that we, as young people, do that because we are the future of this country,” Jauregui said. “The country is in a state of uncertainty and this is what we can do to get involved and speak out.”
Both students said they would be voting for Galvez over Scheinbaum because they believe change within the Morena party is much needed and feel the party's leadership is “dysfunctional.”
The students arrived at 6 a.m., hoping to cast their ballot in a few hours and then go to breakfast, but they were still in line past noon. Still, they were excited to be a part of history and cast their vote for the country's first female president.
On Sunday, lines of people could be seen outside the Mexican consulate from early in the morning waiting to vote.
(Dania Maxwell/Los Angeles Times)
“A woman president would be a step forward for the country and hopefully for the country,” Montemayor said. “We are part of the feminist movement and it will definitely bring about some change.”
Staff writers Patrick J. McDonnell and Kate Linthicum contributed to this report.
