Indira Vizcaíno, Morena's candidate for the governorship of Colima, during a campaign event.
Six gubernatorial candidates are strong enough to win in the states participating in the elections this June 6.
In some cases, such as Colima or Tlaxcala, it is very possible that a woman will win.
The next elections aim to break the record for the largest number of women in this position in the history of the country.
The photo of the traditionally male leaders in charge of one of the most powerful executive positions after the president is about to change forever.
EL PAÍS dialogues with some of them, aware that 2021 will be a turning point for the feminist movement.
It is the hour of the governors.
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To understand how Mexico has come to have the largest number of female candidates in its political history, it is necessary to go back to 1953. In that year, women achieved the right to vote and be elected to a popularly elected position. "But it was not until 1996 that this measure began to be regulated," explains in a telephone interview the federal deputy of the Citizen Movement, Martha Tagle, who has pushed feminist measures for decades. And although since then and until now there have been some examples, nine women have obtained the position of governor (two of them interim), Tagle explains that they were "symbol women", placed by the parties, but there was no obligation to include in their ballots for candidates for executive positions.
Parity is not obtained until 2014, when it is included for the first time in the Constitution. And it does not come from a political will, but from court rulings that created jurisprudence, that is, for the feminist struggle of dozens of women who asked to obtain guarantees for that right. Only three years ago, in July 2019, a Supreme Court ruling endorsed parity in all positions, until that moment they were only legislative. The blow on the table was also given by the National Electoral Institute, which at the end of last year ordered that each party should include at least 7 women of its 15 candidates for governor. A measure that provoked challenges from some parties, especially the conservative PAN, according to Tagle recalls.The leader of Morena came to describe the measure of the electoral body as an "invasion" of the powers of the parties. But ultimately the measure went ahead and led Mexico to a historic moment in these June state, local and legislative elections.
“We had a precedent of 40 years ago in Colima, with Griselda Álvarez.
But this would be the first time that it has been achieved in an absolutely democratic way.
Let us remember that before, with a single party [the PRI] the ways were completely different, ”says Morena's candidate to govern Colima, Indira Vizcaíno.
"We are experiencing a historic event, in which for the first time we are so many in this position at the same time," he adds.
Celia Maya candidate of Morena to the government of Queretaro.RRSS
Vizcaíno is convinced that, regardless of the color that wins in the entities, the fact that a woman reaches that position is a great triumph for the feminist cause. “We know that when there is a woman in a position of power, the rest of the women in her environment begin empowerment processes. They trust institutions more, they come closer because they know that we are going to protect them, that we are going to believe them, that they are not going to be prejudged, in cases of violence, ”he says.
The Colima candidate recognizes that many of her rivals and other candidates from the same party will not necessarily arrive at the post with a feminist conscience: “But at the end of the day we are women and we have experienced different types of violence, we have been afraid, that helps to generate natural empathy. Many do not identify these circles of violence, but that does not make them macho. We are victims. And the important thing is that for the first time we can make pacts among ourselves to establish a feminist agenda, ”says Vizcaíno, who has already started conversations on this point with the candidate from Tlaxcala, Baja California and the head of government of the capital, Claudia Sheinbaum .
Many of the gubernatorial candidates do not have a feminist program on their agenda.
The issue of abortion regulation, in some conservative and Catholic states, remains taboo.
“It is very complex to touch that subject.
I have always been very respectful and I will always respect a woman's decision, because aborting is a very difficult decision, ”says the Morena candidate for Tlaxcala, Lorena Cuéllar, about this conflictive point.
The State is one of the ones that has presented the most candidacies of women.
“I have been a fighter for women.
When I started in politics, I was the only woman and they were all men: for municipal president there were 19 men and only one woman.
I like to jump over barriers, to achieve my dream, ”says Cuéllar.
"This is going to be a watershed that opens the way for thousands of women who come after," he adds.
In Querétaro, Celia Maya (from Morena) competes with Mauricio Kuri (from PAN), and although her main rival is far from her in the first place in the polls, Maya proudly says that this year "we are going to see a difference" .
“The sensitivity of women and the ability to see beyond is recognized.
We know how to manage and we are careful with money.
But above all, as we do not have the experience of being in this type of position or in the business world, the risk of us being corrupt is much lower, "he explains.
Layda Sansores, Morena's candidate for the governorship of Campeche, at a rally with the youth of the State.
Layda Sansores, Morena's candidate for governor of Campeche, has been told in the campaign that "what brothel did she come from." Sansores has been one of the most controversial candidates in this electoral process, the attacks of her rivals for corruption and her opinion videos on the networks, have placed her on the topic of national conversation. She has been mayor of the Álvaro Obregón delegation in the capital, and this year she returns to her land. Her rivals accuse her of belonging to a family saga of the PRI in Campeche, where no other party has governed in the history of the entity, although she points out that affirming that implies "having no memory." "It's been 25 years since I left the PRI and I'm walking alongside Andrés Manuel [López Obrador]," he replies.
Sansores is one of the candidates that mentions López Obrador the most. And he feels that Sheinbaum set a precedent for the capital that can be exported to other states. “We women have another look, another way of doing things. Here in Campeche none has ever ruled. We walk among stones that are sent to us only for being a woman. I've gotten used to it, I know it's part of the political game, ”adds the candidate. In addition to insulting her, they have attacked her because of her age, 75 years old: “They tell me that I am old, that I am tired. But they do not understand that youth is not measured by years, those who fight and rebel will always be young ”, he argues.
In most of the states where women candidates can govern in these elections, there has never been a female governor. Such is the case of Campeche, but also Baja California and Chihuahua. Until now, the largest number of women who appeared in the official photo of governors were two and that has been the maximum female representation in the history of Mexico in the same legislature: Claudia Sheinbaum (for the capital) and Claudia Pavlovich (from the PRI , in Sonora).
The elections on June 6 will cause, no matter how bad the results are, a turnaround in the male tradition in that position. There have never been so many female candidates and they have never been so strong in the polls. “Things have begun to change and they are going to offer us another face of politics, it is no longer of the gentlemen. Because they will even have to change modes, "warns Tagle. And he adds: "Although the majority do not have this gender awareness, in the exercise of the position they will assume it, because they will face inequalities being a woman in a position of this nature". On the other hand, Tagle warns: "Men will always look for mechanisms to control power, the case of Evelyn Salgado [daughter of former candidate Salgado Macedonio, in Guerrero] is the most representative case, but they will find it increasingly difficult."
Methodology and sources.
To calculate the average number of surveys, the last seven surveys of seven different houses or media officially published in each of the states analyzed have been considered.
It is a simple average that includes the gross, ineffective intention (that is, without eliminating from the calculation those who declare they do not know or do not answer who they intend to vote for).
It is focused exclusively on the 2 or 3 candidacies with the highest declared intention in each place.
As such, it is an exercise that is only indicative of the degree of support of the male and female candidates, which does not seek to predict the final outcome of the electoral contests.
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