Mexico elects first woman pres.

Claudia Sheinbaum on Monday was elected president of Mexico, becoming the first woman ever to ascend to the position, said the National Electoral Institute. Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and former Mexico City mayor, emerged with between 58.3 percent and 60.7 percent of the vote, the institute said in a release. Opposition candidate Xochitl Galvez, also a woman, had between 26.6 percent and 28.6 percent of the vote, and Jorge Alvarez Maynez had between 9.9 percent and 10.8 percent of the vote, it added. With nearly 50 percent of polling places reporting, the official preliminary count had Sheinbaum leading Galvez by 28 points, it noted. "I will become the first woman president of Mexico," Sheinbaum said at a downtown hotel in Mexico City shortly after she was projected to win the election. "I donÂ't make it alone. WeÂ've all made it, with our heroines who gave us our homeland, with our mothers, our daughters and our granddaughters," she added. "We have demonstrated that Mexico is a democratic country wi th peaceful elections." Source: Kuwait News Agency