MEXICO CITY (AP) — Claudia Sheinbaum takes office as Mexico's representative on Tuesday first female president in the country's more than 200 years of independence.

The 62-year-old former Mexico City mayor and lifelong leftist campaigned on the promise of continuity, protection and expansion of the signature initiatives of her mentor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

In the four months between her election and her inauguration, she took this line and supported López Obrador on issues large and small. But Sheinbaum is a completely different person; She likes data and doesn't have López Obrador's pat-on-the-back personal touch.

Mexico is now waiting whether she steps out of his shadow.

What is Sheinbaum's background?

Sheinbaum's background is in science. She has a Ph.D. in energy technology. Her brother is a physicist. In one 2023 interview with The Associated PressSheinbaum said, “I believe in science.”

Observers say the down-to-earth nature was evident in Sheinbaum's actions as mayor during the COVID-19 pandemic, when her city of about 9 million people took a different approach than López Obrador did nationally.

It comes from an older, more left-wing tradition precedes López Obrador's nationalist, populist movement.

Her parents were leading activists in the 1968 Mexican student movement, which tragically ended in government Massacre of hundreds of student demonstrators at Tlatelolco Square in Mexico City, just days before the opening of the Summer Olympics this year.

Sheinbaum is that too first president with a Jewish background in the largely Catholic country.

What did their victory look like?

Sheinbaum led wire to wire and won convincingly in June with almost 60% of the voteabout twice as many as their nearest competitor, Xóchitl Gálvez.

As López Obrador's chosen successor, she enjoyed a boost from the high popularity he maintained during his six years in office.

The opposition coalition led by Gálvez has struggled to gain traction while maintaining support for the ruling party transferred to Congresswhere voters gave Morena and his allies leeway that allowed her to pass key constitutional changes before López Obrador left office.

What is her stance on recent controversial issues?

Before the adoption of a controversial constitution Reform of the Mexican justice system Sheinbaum sided with López Obrador, who had ensured that all judges would stand for election.

Sheinbaum said: “The justice system reforms will have no impact on our trade relations nor on private Mexican or foreign investment. On the contrary: there will be more and better rule of law and democracy for all.”

Shortly thereafter, when López Obrador's proposal to place the National Guard under military command was being considered, Sheinbaum defended him against critics. She said it would not militarize the country and that the National Guard would respect human rights.

And just days before she took office, Sheinbaum stood at López Obrador's side long-standing diplomatic dispute with Spain. She defended her decision to marry Spain's King Felipe VI. not to be invited to her inauguration, saying, among other things, that the king had failed to apologize for Spain's conquest of Mexico, as López Obrador had demanded years earlier.

How important is their choice for Mexican women?

Sheinbaum's victory came 70 years after women won the right to vote in Mexico.

The race actually came down to just two women, Sheinbaum and Gálvez, but Mexico's prevailing machismo still pushed both women to explain why they thought they could become president.

Since 2018, Mexico's Congress has had a 50:50 gender split, partly due to gender quotas for party candidates. Nevertheless, Sheinbaum is the legacy of a country where violence against women is on the rise.

There are also many parts of the country, especially rural areas, where indigenous people live where men have all the power. And Around 2.5 million women work as domestic workers Despite reforms, they continue to face low wages, abuse by employers, long working hours and unstable working conditions.

Mexico's Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that national laws banning abortions were unconstitutional and violated women's rights.

Although the Mexican ruling orders the removal of abortion from the federal criminal code and requires federal health authorities to offer the procedure to anyone who requests it, further federal legal work is pending to remove all penalties.

Feminists say that simply electing a woman as president is no guarantee that she will govern with a gender perspective. Both Sheinbaum and López Obrador have previously been criticized for appearing to show a lack of compassion toward women protesting gender-based violence.

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