Sheinbaum signals hope, but can she pursue her own agenda?

A month ago in Chiapas, a Mexican state caught in a bloody battle between criminal groups, a car carrying the front runner to be the country's next president was stopped by a group of masked men.

- Thomas Graham

They filmed Claudia Sheinbaum as they begged her to do something about the violence. It was a tense, off-script moment in a carefully planned campaign: the men claimed to be locals, but they could have been anyone. Sheinbaum kept her cool.

After hundreds of events and three debates where rivals tried to rattle her, Sheinbaum emerged almost without a slip-up and was confirmed as Mexico's president on Monday. She becomes the country's first female leader, and its first from a Jewish background.

"We imagine a plural, diverse and democratic Mexico. Our duty is and will always be to look after each and every Mexican, without distinction," Sheinbaum said last Sunday. "Even if many Mexicans do not fully agree with our project, we will have to walk in peace and harmony to continue building a fair and more prosperous Mexico."

Sheinbaum took at least 58.3% of the vote, according to a preliminary count. Her closest rival, Xóchitl Gálvez, from the opposition coalition, received at least 26.6%, while Jorge Álvarez Máynez, the candidate of the centrist Movimiento Ciudadano, came in third with at least 9.9%.