Mexico’s next president will be a woman. But violence has overshadowed the glass ceiling being shattered.

Candidates must convince voters this weekend that they can end impunity in Mexico; around 95% of all crimes nationwide went unsolved in the country in 2022.

Claudia Sheinbaum was campaigning for president in southern Mexico when hooded men approached her car, filming the interaction as they implored her to keep their town from being taken over by gangs. One man said he felt helpless, and that the government had “never done anything for these lands.” They lived in Chiapas, Mexico’s poorest state and an increasingly important territory for criminal organizations moving illegal drugs, firearms and migrants from neighboring Guatemala. Sheinbaum thanked the men, shaking one of their hands before her car pulled away. The former Mexico City mayor is the frontrunner in a landmark election this weekend where Mexico is all but certain to emerge with its first female president – a remarkable achievement in a country known for its patriarchal culture and high rates of gender-based violence, where around 10 women are murdered every day. Sheinbaum is riding on a wave of popularity with the support of her long-time ally, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and their leftist Morena party. Trailing her in the polls is former senator Xochitl Gálvez, from the conservative PAN party, who is representing a coalition of opposition parties. But what should have been celebrated as a ground-breaking election has become overshadowed by the bloodiest election campaign in Mexico’s history, and ongoing high levels of violence across the country. At least 34 political candidates or applicants have been murdered since June 2023 as gangs try and influence those coming into power, according to a report by research group Laboratorio Electoral, which also found hundreds of attacks on candidates and people related to the current electoral process.