The inauguration of Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo as Mexico’s first female president is now just 12 days away.
The 62-year-old former Mexico City mayor will be sworn in as president on Tuesday, Oct. 1, just under four months after she won the June 2 presidential election in a landslide.
Sheinbaum, a representative of the ruling Morena party, will succeed Andres Manuel López Obrador, who won the the presidency at his third attempt in 2018.
She will serve a six-year term that will conclude in 2030.
Here’s everything you need to know about Mexico’s 2024 presidential inauguration ceremony.
Where will the inauguration take place?
Sheinbaum will be sworn in as president in a ceremony held at the Legislative Palace of San Lázaro in Mexico City.
Located about 2.5 kilometers east of the capital’s central square, the building houses Mexico’s lower house of Congress, the Chamber of Deputies.
A group of female military cadets will escort Sheinbaum to the Legislative Palace.
The inauguration ceremony will commence at 9 a.m. on Oct. 1 in a general Congress session. Federal deputies and senators will attend the joint sitting of Congress.
The Mexican flag and coat of arms will both be on display during the inauguration ceremony, and attendees will rise for a rendition of the national anthem at its conclusion.
A representative of each of the political parties represented in Congress will have the opportunity to speak.
The ceremony could last more than three hours, the news website Expansión Política reported.
The presidential oath of office
According to Article 87 of the Mexican Constitution, the president, upon taking office, takes the following oath before the Mexican Congress.
“I swear to observe and uphold the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States and the laws that emanate from it, and to loyally and patriotically perform the position of President of the Republic, which the people have conferred upon me, pursuing the welfare and prosperity of the country; and if I do not fulfill these obligations, may the Nation demand it of me.”
The presidential sash
President López Obrador will attend the inauguration ceremony wearing the red, green and white presidential sash for the final time.
At the appropriate time, he will remove the sash and pass it to Congress President Ifigenia Martha Martínez y Hernández, a 94-year-old Morena party lawmaker.
Martínez will then bestow the sash on Sheinbaum, providing her with an important symbol of the power and responsibility vested in the president of Mexico.
It will be the first time that a woman hands over the sash to Mexico’s new president.
* Presidential sashes are more common in Latin America than any other region in the world. According to the news publication Foreign Policy, most Latin American leaders wear presidential sashes that they first receive at their inaugurations.
Which world leaders will attend Sheinbaum’s inauguration?
The president-elect said in a statement on Wednesday that representatives of 105 countries and 22 international organizations had confirmed they will attend her inauguration ceremony on Oct. 1.
Sixteen of those countries have confirmed that their leaders will attend. Those leaders are:
- Prime Minister John Briceño of Belize.
- President Luis Alberto Arce Catacora of Bolivia.
- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil.
- President Gabriel Boric Font of Chile.
- President Gustavo Petro Urrego of Colombia.
- President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez of Cuba.
- President Xiomara Castro Sarmiento of Honduras.
- Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominica.
- President Luis Rodolfo Abinader Corona of the Dominican Republic.
- President Bernardo Arévalo de León of Guatemala.
- President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of Ghana.
- Régine Abraham, head of the Transitional Presidential Council of Haiti.
- Mohamed Yunus al-Menfi, chairman of the Presidential Council of Libya.
- President Santiago Peña Palacios of Paraguay.
- Prime Minister Bouchraya Hammoudi Bayoun of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
- Prime Minister Philip Joseph Pierre of Saint Lucia.
Who will represent the United States and Canada?
President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that his wife and first lady of the United States, Dr. Jill Biden, will lead a U.S. presidential delegation that will attend the inauguration of Sheinbaum.
“The full list of delegation members will be announced at a later date,” Biden said via a White House press release.
In her statement, Sheinbaum didn’t provide any information about who will represent Canada, Mexico’s other USMCA trade partner, at her inauguration.
It remains to be seen whether Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will make the trip to Mexico to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Mexico’s first female leader.
Sheinbaum’s first act as president
After she has been sworn in as president, Sheinbaum will address the joint sitting of Congress.
Based on the remarks she has made since winning the June 2 election, it is likely she will emphasize the fact that she is Mexico’s first female president, and stress that her ascension to the nation’s top job is a victory for all women.
It is also likely that she will be highly appreciative of López Obrador, her political mentor, and acknowledge the achievements of his administration over the past six years.
Later in the day, Sheinbaum will deliver another speech in Mexico City’s central square, the Zócalo, where a large crowd of supporters is expected to be in attendance.
* Click here to read Mexico News Daily’s report on López Obrador’s inaugural speech as president.
More reading on Claudia Sheinbaum
- Who is Claudia Sheinbaum? A profile on Mexico’s first woman president
- Claudia Sheinbaum is elected the first female president of Mexico
- Like AMLO, Sheinbaum will live in the National Palace after taking office
- Claudia Sheinbaum gets married in small civil ceremony
- What would Claudia Sheinbaum do as president?
With reports from Expansión Política and Infobae
