Sheinbaum took over from outgoing President – and close Morena party ally – Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador at an inauguration ceremony in the country’s Congress on Tuesday.
The 62-year-old climate scientist and former Mayor of Mexico City is set to serve a six year term, ending in 2030.
Sheinbaum took the oath of office in front of parliamentarians, as her supporters chanted “President! President!” and “Long live Mexico!”
“Now is the time of transformation, now is the time of women,” Sheinbaum said.
She enters office with her party holding supermajority control in the legislature’s lower house, and nearly the same in the Senate. She immediately reassured investors, saying investments will be safe in Mexico.
Sheinbaum must contend with some last-minute moves by Lopez Obrador, namely a controversial judicial overhaul that will see federal judges – including those on the Supreme Court – elected by popular vote. The constitutional change has roiled both advocates of judicial independence and investors.
The incoming President will also be navigating a US election on November 5 that could shift relations with Mexico’s top trading partner.
Later in November, she will deliver her government’s first budget, which will likely give clues as to whether Sheinbaum can make good on commitments to reduce the country’s widening fiscal deficit while maintaining popular welfare spending and costly crime-fighting initiatives.
That task comes at a time when Mexico’s economy, the second-largest in Latin America, is forecasted to have only modest growth.
Historic presidency
Sheinbaum’s inauguration is the culmination of a four-decade rise in Mexican politics, punctuated by her history-making election as the first woman to lead Mexico City.
Sheinbaum, the daughter of academic activists, has also leaned into the history-making nature of her presidency.
In a social media post on Monday, she unveiled a logo showing a young woman in profile hoisting a Mexican flag, her hair pulled back into a ponytail. The hairstyle has become a sort of signature for Sheinbaum.
“A young Mexican woman will be the emblem of Mexico’s government,” Sheinbaum wrote.
Mexico remains one of the most conservative countries in Latin America, with its 65 presidents since independence from Spain all men.
As Mexico City mayor, Sheinbaum built a reputation for a data-driven approach to leadership, winning praise for reducing the city’s murder rate by half.
Her policies sought to boost security spending on an expanded police force with higher salaries. She has pledged to replicate the approach across Mexico, which continues to be plagued by high rates of crime and the outsized influence of powerful drug cartels. Critics have questioned how realistic those pledges will prove to be.
At the same time, Sheinbaum has promised to continue policies of generous social spending pensions and youth scholarships championed by her populist predecessor Lopez Obrador.
Having studied energy engineering, and later being tapped for the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Sheinbaum has sought to strike a more careful balance on environmental initiatives.
She has said she will protect the industrial dominance of Mexico’s state-owned oil and power companies, while expressing interest in shifting towards renewable energy projects.
Sheinbaum shared a Nobel Peace Prize with former US Vice President Al Gore in 2007 for her climate work.
Prior to that, she had been Lopez Obrador’s environmental chief when he served as the mayor of Mexico City. She had previously served as the chief spokesperson for Lopez Orador’s failed 2006 campaign.
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies
