Female Presidential Candidate Blazes Trail In Mexico : NPR Female Presidential Candidate Blazes Trail In Mexico Embed Embed Female Presidential Candidate Blazes Trail In Mexico Female Presidential Candidate Blazes Trail In Mexico Embed Embed Josefina Vazquez Mota, presidential candidate from the ruling National Action Party, or PAN, delivers a speech during an electoral rally in Jocotepec, in the state of Jalisco, in May. AFP/Getty Images/PAN Press Office hide caption toggle caption AFP/Getty Images/PAN Press Office Josefina Vazquez Mota, presidential candidate from the ruling National Action Party, or PAN, delivers a speech during an electoral rally in Jocotepec, in the state of Jalisco, in May. AFP/Getty Images/PAN Press Office When Mexicans go to the polls on July 1 to choose their next president, a woman will be among the candidates, the first from a major political party. She belongs to the National Action Party — or PAN — the party of current President Felipe Calderon. On a recent visit to the Mexican border city of Juarez, Josefina Vazquez Mota steps onto a catwalk that juts into the center of a long banquet hall crammed with table after table of women. When she speaks, they cheer.

It's Vazquez Mota's first official campaign visit to Ciudad Juarez, but she is no stranger to the city. It's where she got her start in politics as a federal representative for a cluster of northern Mexican states. She visited Juarez at a time when foreign factory jobs were drawing in thousands of women from across Mexico. "The women of Juarez are tireless fighters; they are courageous," Vazquez Mota tells them. New Role Model Some of that must have rubbed off on her. Vazquez Mota, 51, says her experience in northern Mexico was empowering. She is an economist who most recently served as secretary of education under Calderon. Article continues after sponsorship Although happily married, Vazquez Mota wrote a best-selling book with an eyebrow-raising title, Dear God, Please Make Me A Widow. The book urges women to take initiative in their lives. Now, playing off that title, she carries campaign posters that say, "Dear God, Please Make Me President." Outside the banquet hall the crowd pulses with girl power. A gang of female bikers poses for pictures beside their motorcycles. They're wearing leather vests imprinted with Vazquez Mota's image.

One woman standing by is Alejandra Marquez. A young architect who is visibly pregnant, with her second child, she's also a fan of Vazquez Mota. "I think she's a good role model. She can be a very good leader for the country. We are proud that she's a woman," Marquez says. Uphill Battle In Calderon's Shadow Like most people in Mexico, Marquez's top concern this election is security. Calderon has led an unprecedented offensive against the country's powerful drug cartels. But six years into the fight, more than 50,000 people have died and violence continues to spread across the country. Vazquez Mota has tried to distance herself from Calderon with the slogan "Josefina is different." She has pledged to crack down on government corruption. Tony Payan, who teaches political science across the border in El Paso, Texas, agrees with Vazquez Mota. "I think part of the problem is that we have not fought corruption. We have to go after the politicians," Payan says.

"And in the last few speeches that she has given, she has made it very clear that it's about going after corrupt politicians who collaborate with organized crime." The campaign has proved an uphill battle for Vazquez Mota. After a strong start, the latest poll shows her in third place. The front-runner in the race is Enrique Peña Nieto, who belongs to the PRI — the party that ruled Mexico for 71 consecutive years, from 1929 to 2000. Still, about 25 percent of Mexicans say they're undecided, while protests by young voters may continue to shift the popularity of all four candidates in the race. A woman as Mexico's president? - CSMonitor.com A woman as Mexico's president? Latest News On Sunday, the ruling party nominated Josefina Vazquez Mota to be the first woman candidate for president from a major Mexican party. Would she instill rule of law and sustain the fight against drug cartels? By the Monitor's Editorial Board February 6, 2012 Josefina Vazquez Mota, presidential candidate of Mexico's ruling conservatives, the National Action Party (PAN), could be the country's first female president.

Claudia Daut/Reuters View Caption of Both Mexico and the United States hold major elections in 2012, but the big difference between the two contests is that Mexico has a woman running for president – the first ever from a major party. On Sunday, former education minister Josefina Vázquez Mota easily won the nomination of the ruling party, the National Action Party , or PAN, defying its establishment. If she goes on to win the July 1 election, Mexico will join a few other Latin American countries that have elected women as presidents, such as Brazil , Chile , Costa Rica , and Argentina . As Ms. Vázquez points out, Mexico may finally be ready for a woman leader. The country needs a strong fighter against corruption. Most of all it must embrace the rule of law. About half of Mexicans say their fellow citizens rarely or never respect the law. Without such progress, curbing the drug cartels or preventing illegal immigration will remain difficult. One of Vázquez’s promises is to seek life sentences for politicians who collaborate with organized crime. She also warns of a return to Mexico’s antidemocratic and highly corrupt past if her main rival, Enrique Peña Nieto, is elected.

He is the nominee of the Institutional Revolutionary Party , or PRI, which ruled Mexico for seven decades until it lost to PAN in 2000. Photos of the Day Our best photos of the year 2016 So far, Mr. Peña Nieto, a young lawyer, has been gaffe prone on the stump, even saying that he didn’t know the price of tortillas because he is “not the lady of the house.” Women are now breadwinners in 7 of 10 Mexican households, Vázquez says, but that influence has yet to be reflected in women gaining elected office. Under the previous president, Vicente Fox , Vázquez was minister of social development. She saw the influence of women immigrants returning to Mexico from the US where they discovered a new freedom, making their own money and operating independent of male relatives. “We are hard workers, we take great responsibility for our decisions ... we have won many campaigns for many men,” she said. “The moment has come to win campaigns for ourselves.” Vázquez, who once wrote self-help books for a living, was the campaign manager for current president, Felipe Calderón , although he endorsed a party rival. She plans to continue Mr.

Calderón’s long and violent war on the cartels – which has taken nearly 50,000 lives. Polls show Vázquez trailing the PRI candidate, but campaigning has yet to fully begin. Under the 12-year rule of PAN, Mexico has made much economic progress, but voters may believe the PRI’s claim that it has reformed itself and thus return it to power. Not if Vázquez has anything to do with it. She has been compared to Germany ’s leader, Angela Merkel , who is also a conservative and an astute politician. Both women once experienced life under nondemocratic regimes. Vázquez fully appreciates the new opportunities for women to run for office. She doesn’t want PRI to close that door again. Next up Get the Monitor stories you care about delivered to your inbox.

Daily Mexico's conservatives bet on woman presidential hopeful | Reuters Fri Apr 20, 2012 | 4:24 PM EDT Mexico's conservatives bet on woman presidential hopeful Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy (L) poses with Mexican Josefina Vazquez Mota, presidential candidate of the ruling National Action Party (PAN) before a private meeting at a hotel in Mexico City April 18, 2012. Reuters/Henry Romero MEXICO CITY Mexico's ruling conservatives took a bold step by becoming the first major party to nominate a woman presidential candidate, but Josefina Vazquez Mota is struggling to close a big gap with the front-runner, hamstrung by internal party divisions. Three weeks into a compressed campaign season before the July 1 vote, Vazquez Mota trails Enrique Pena Nieto from the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, by double digits in most opinion polls. Vazquez Mota's National Action Party, or PAN, is placing its hopes in the petite 51-year-old politician, who served as President Felipe Calderon's education minister before becoming the party's leader in the lower house of congress.

She won popular support from grassroots voters to beat out the president's perceived favorite - former finance minister Ernesto Cordero - in a February primary vote, and is trying to overcome infighting to unify the party behind her. But her campaign got off to a shaky start, and she is far behind the youthful former governor Pena Nieto, who hopes to seize back power for the PRI, which ruled Mexico for seven decades before being ousted by the PAN in 2000. She overhauled her team just days into official campaigning, producing slick television spots, including one attack ad going after Pena Nieto's record as governor. In one ad she declares: "I will be a president in a skirt, but I will wear the pants." But the gamble has yet to pay off. One poll published on April 19 even had her slipping back into third place, behind the 2006 runner-up, leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. SELF-HELP As a federal deputy, Vazquez Mota vigorously backed Calderon's reforms, but her efforts to shepherd them through congress frequently foundered due to opposition from the PRI.

As president, she would likely face similar challenges pushing through more ambitious policies such as trying to list Pemex, the nationalized oil monopoly, on the stock exchange. Her loyalty to the government could be a liability due to public discontent over the drug-related violence that has claimed more than 50,000 lives since Calderon deployed the army to crush drug cartels after taking office at the end of 2006. With her campaign slogan "Josefina is different," she is seeking to carefully distance herself from the government's less popular policies while still drawing support from Calderon's inner circle. At one campaign rally before she became PAN candidate, some questioned her ability as a woman to carry on Calderon's battle against the brutal cartels, known for torture, massacres and decapitations. She insists she is up to the challenge. "I will not negotiate with organized crime," she said at a recent event, in a veiled reference to a widely held belief that PRI politicians in the past had cut deals with criminals to keep the peace. Supporters often hear about her proud role as mother of three daughters and wife in a 27-year-long marriage.

To woo female voters, she has promoted the cause of women's health and education. Her proposals include lengthening Mexico's short school day so mothers have more time to work. Many of Vazquez Mota's views on women can be found in a 1999 self-help book she wrote called "My God, Make Me A Widow Please: The Challenge Of Being Yourself." "Little girls are taught to be dependent, incapable of valuing themselves in many aspects of their daily lives," she wrote, preaching improved self-esteem as a remedy. In the book, her religious conviction also emerges, as she thanks God for "infinite love" in the introduction. Hoping for votes from the PAN's strong Roman Catholic base, she is opposed to gay marriage and abortion but also to jailing women for terminating pregnancies, a practice in some of Mexico's states.

(Reporting by Mica Rosenberg; Editing by Eric Walsh) ADVERTISEMENT Mexico's chance at first female president slims - Boston.com Boston.com K-12 Mexico's chance at first female president slims FILE - In this March 30, 2012 file photo, Josefina Vazquez Mota, presidential candidate for the now-governing National Action Party, PAN, waves to supporters through a car window in Mexico City. Vazquez Mota exulted in the explosion of camera flashes as a pumped-up crowd cheered her victory in a bruising three-way race to become the presidential candidate of Mexico's ruling party. With her daughters behind her, the candidate pledged to become Mexico's first female president. Within weeks she was within single digits of the frontrunner in the July 1 election. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File) By Adriana Gomez Licon Add a personal message:(80 character limit) Your E-mail: Sending your article Your article has been sent.

MEXICO CITY—Josefina Vazquez Mota exulted in the explosion of camera flashes as a pumped-up crowd cheered her victory in a bruising three-way race to become the ruling party's presidential candidate and this country's first woman to lead a major ticket. With her daughters beaming behind her, the candidate pledged in February to become Mexico's first female president. Over the next weeks, she pulled within single digits of the front-runner in the July 1 election. In 12 years the tough-talking, workaholic economist had transformed herself from a motivational speaker and self-help author to one of the most powerful women in the country. She worked her way up from the lower ranks of the conservative National Action Party and scored a confident victory over two influential male competitors to win its presidential nomination. She had what looked like a solid shot at the country's highest office. Then it all fell apart. A series of gaffes and mishaps in the opening days of the relentless three-month march to the election halted Vazquez Mota's rise in the polls against Enrique Pena Nieto, the charismatic, 45-year-old candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party.

Her momentum lost, Vazquez Mota is now as much as 20 points behind Pena Nieto in many polls, weighed down by voter fatigue over economic hardship that some blame on President Felipe Calderon, also of the National Action Party, and his administration's grueling, nearly six-year-old war against drug cartels. The candidate notes that polls still show about a fifth of voters still undecided. "The goal is to go for a sector of important indecisive voters who will really define this election," she said in an interview with The Associated Press. "We began 40 points behind and we will make a sweep and overcome and get a very good victory." Accustomed to winning and working so hard she has made herself sick at times, Vazquez Mota has bounced back from plenty of setbacks throughout her political career. But if the poll numbers hold, a landslide defeat would deal a painful blow to a woman who's carved out an unusually powerful position in a culture still imbued with machismo. Mexican women have voted since 1953, but unlike other Latin American countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Chile, Mexico has never elected a woman president.

In a particularly bitter assessment by a fellow PAN member, former President Vicente Fox, who first recruited Vazquez Mota as a Cabinet member, proclaimed last month that "only a miracle" could save her race for the presidency. It isn't just Fox. The entire political machine that brought Vazquez Mota, 51, into politics as an appointed member of Congress is being blamed for what many see as her likely defeat. Some critics say divisions and disorganization within the PAN caused the logistical slipups in the campaign's opening days. Vazquez Mota has also struggled to reconcile voters' desire for change with the baggage of the ruling party's two consecutive presidential terms, in particular the offensive against drug cartels many blame for unleashing violence that has claimed more than 47,000 lives over the past six years. She picked the single word "Different" as her slogan, then pulled veterans of Calderon's administration into her campaign after it ran into trouble. At some events, she has been confronted by voters angry about her party's past actions -- run-ins broadcast over and over on TV.

"It seems to me that the fundamental problem is an identity crisis and that Josefina Vazquez Mota simply reflects that the party has lost the idea of what it's trying to achieve," said Jesus Silva-Herzog Marquez, a newspaper columnist and law professor who has closely followed her career and the PAN's fortunes. Fox compares the party's strategy to a poorly trained athlete trying to compete in the Olympics. "I believe in miracles," he said at a Wednesday meeting with foreign correspondents. "Sometimes you can flip a tortilla. But days are running out and I see fewer chances for a miracle to happen." While hesitating to blame sexism for her poor poll numbers, Vazquez Mota said in the AP interview that gender has played a role in her troubles. She said she's been asked if she could serve as commander in chief while suffering from menstrual cramps, or have the strength to take on criminals. "They'd never ask a man the questions that they ask me," she said. The fourth of seven children of a Mexico City paint-store owner, Vazquez Mota trained as an economist and by the late `90s had become a newspaper business columnist.

She was known mostly for her book with the deliberately provocative title "Dear God, Please Make Me A Widow," advocating independence as the best way for women to realize their full potential. A devoted Roman Catholic who friends say attends Mass every Sunday, Vazquez Mota met her first boyfriend, Sergio Ocampo, as a high school student, married him and had three daughters. He is an executive at major tortilla maker Maseca and often attends campaign rallies with the couple's children. Only three months after being named in 2000 to a congressional seat controlled by the PAN, Vazquez Mota was recruited by Fox to be secretary of social development, taking responsibility for disaster response and poverty-fighting efforts. In 2002, she was hospitalized for a week with symptoms of dehydration and exhaustion after rushing to the Yucatan Peninsula to coordinate the rescue and emergency relief effort for 300,000 people made homeless by Hurricane Isidore. Three years later, Vazquez Mota lived for nearly four weeks on a military base in the state of Chiapas after Hurricane Stan hit that region, while other officials stayed in a hotel. "I've always put myself intensely into my work," Vazquez Mota said.

In 2006, she joined the presidential campaign of Economy Secretary Felipe Calderon and, after he won, was named education secretary, the first woman to hold the important position. Her political fortunes dropped when she clashed with another of Mexico's most powerful women, Elba Esther Gordillo, a Calderon ally who controls a key voting bloc as head of the national teachers union. Calderon demanded Vazquez Mota's resign in 2009, a firing seen as humiliating. Witnesses recall seeing Vazquez Mota's legs trembling so much she had to sit down as Calderon announced her resignation. "Calderon's team treated her badly. They were extremely sexist," said Xochitl Galvez, a former commissioner for Indian affairs who became a close friend of the candidate. "It was one of her toughest moments." Vazquez Mota recovered quickly, winning election to a congressional seat months later, then took a leave of absence to run for her party's presidential nomination. By the beginning of March, one poll had Vazquez Mota within 7 percentage points of Pena Nieto, and some were anticipating a close race. That didn't happen.

In one speech, she mistakenly said she planned to "strengthen money laundering" if elected. The next day, a campaign rally had to be called off because of a nearby, unrelated picket line of striking airline workers -- a cancellation her staff blamed on poor planning. Shortly after, following a moderate earthquake that swayed the capital's high-rises, Vazquez Mota said she felt faint during a speech and interrupted her address to sit down and rest. The campaign dismissed the episode as a brief spell of low blood pressure, but images of her looking ill dominated television news for several days. Known for speaking off the cuff for more than a half hour straight, Vazquez Mota is placing her comeback bets on two debates with Pena Nieto and leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The front-runner has hewed tightly to his campaign script and been prone to gaffes when improvising. Despite the long odds, Vazquez Mota and her staff are still hopeful. "It hasn't been easy for her," said Agustin Torres, the social-networking coordinator for her campaign.

"She's overcome many obstacles, and right now I see her going, and going, and not stopping." ------ Adriana Gomez Licon on Twitter: © Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Mexico party picks woman as presidential candidate Mexico party picks woman as presidential candidate ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON Share View photos Josefina Vasquez Mota, center, presidential candidate of Mexico's National Action Party, PAN, casts her vote during the party's primary elections in Huixquilucan, Mexico, Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012. If nominated Vasquez Mota would be the first woman for a major political party to run for Mexico's highest office. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini) More MEXICO CITY (AP) — A major political party in Mexico has chosen a female presidential candidate for the first time, as the ruling party bet that a charismatic former congresswoman will help it erode the lead held by its powerful rival.

After easily winning the National Action Party's primary Sunday night, Josefina Vazquez Mota vowed to unite a party battered by a bloody drug war and help it defeat the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mexico for 71 years before being ousted by National Action in 2000. "I will be the first woman president of Mexico in history," Vazquez Mota, 51, told cheering supporters. The party's vote for Vazquez Mota over two other candidates sets the race for Mexico's July 1 presidential election. The two other major parties had already selected their candidates. Vazquez Mota faces an uphill climb against former Mexico State Gov. Enrique Pena Nieto, the front-runner in the polls who could return Mexico's PRI to power after a 12-year hiatus. The leftist Democratic Revolution Party chose Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who is making his second run after a razor-thin loss in 2006 to President Felipe Calderon. Mexico limits its presidents to a single six-year term. The personable, cheerful Vazquez Mota invited party members to help her beat the telegenic and handsome Pena Nieto, who is married to a glamorous telenovela star.

"We begin a new road," said Vazquez Mota. "A road to defeat the real adversary of Mexico, who embodies authoritarianism and the worst antidemocratic practices; who represents the way back to corruption and offers impunity as a conviction. The adversary is Pena Nieto and his party." Vazquez Mota is considered the PRI's strongest challenger, though Mexican voters seem weary of the ruling National Action Party which has governed for 11 years. Delegates are betting that a woman candidate could boost party appeal. "It injects a certain new note of uncertainty. There's never been a strong female presidential candidate for any other major party before," said Eric Olson, a senior associate at the Woodrow Wilson Center's Mexico Institute. "It adds that historical element and maybe some excitement." Others argue that the party, known as the PAN, is tainted by a crackdown on drug cartels that has seen violence soar, stalled reforms and corruption. "Josefina arrives with a weakened party," said Soledad Loaeza, a political science professor in Colegio de Mexico who has studied the evolution of the PAN.

"The electorate is not willing to see her as an alternative." Jose Espina, president of the party's election commission, says Vazquez Mota obtained 54 percent in Sunday's primary, with 96 percent of the polling stations counted. The party's president, Gustavo Madero, confirmed her nomination. She was not Calderon's choice to compete for the party, though he appointed her education secretary after she served as his campaign manager in 2006. The party establishment had supported former Finance Secretary Ernesto Cordero. But the party's rank-and-file membership handed her a victory from the polls. Her two opponents showed their support after the results were announced. More than 400,000 people voted in the primary Calderon was not the choice of his predecessor, Vicente Fox, whose election in 2000 booted the PRI out of office after 71 years of single-party rule. The fact that Calderon still won the party nomination and went on to surprise everyone and defeat Lopez Obrador provides a template for Vazquez Mota to pull an upset, even though she now trails Pena Nieto by nearly 20 points in the polls.

Cordero obtained 39 percent of votes, and the third candidate Santiago Creel, a former senator who also ran in the 2006 primaries against Calderon, got 6 percent of the votes. Women have run for president in Mexico before, but not representing any of the three major parties. The PAN's choice of Vazquez Mota may have been the wisest, according to political analysts. "A PRI victory is still the most likely outcome, but it's almost inevitable the race will tighten," said Pamela Starr, a professor at the University of Southern California who writes on Mexican politics. "It will be an interesting campaign, regardless." Vazquez Mota's party opponents had complained she was a weak lawmaker and couldn't push through an educational reform as secretary. A married mother of three, Vazquez Mota has used her family life on the campaign trail to garner the support of Mexican mothers and young voters. "Today I'm committed to take care of your families like I've taken care of mine," she said Sunday. "I want to make Mexico the best country to live in." Some say Mexico isn't prepared for a woman president, unlike other Latin American countries, but analysts disagree.

"I don't think Mexico is any less ready for a female president than Chile for example," Starr said. Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Costa Rica are among the nations in Latin America that have recently elected women to their higher posts. __ Follow Adriana Gomez Licon on Twitter at Reblog Josefina Vázquez Mota to run for Mexican presidency | World news | The Guardian Josefina Vázquez Mota to run for Mexican presidency Mexico's ruling party selects its first female presidential candidate for July election Josefina Vázquez Mota celebrates after Mexico's National Action party chose her as its presidential candidate. Photograph: Edgard Garrido/Reuters Jo Tuckman in Mexico City Monday 6 February 2012 04.52 EST First published on Monday 6 February 2012 04.52 EST Close This article is 4 years old Mexico's centre-right governing party has chosen a woman to lead its campaign to win the country's presidency for a third consecutive term. Josefina Vázquez Mota, a former education minister, won Sunday's nationwide poll of members of the National Action party (PAN) with around 55% of the votes cast.

Her closest rival, the former finance minister Ernesto Cordero, took 38%. "I am going to be the first female president in the history of our country," the 51-year-old mother of three said after the results were announced. "I am going to look after your family as I have looked after my own." An economist who turned to writing self-help books before entering high-level politics in 2000, Vázquez Mota faces an uphill struggle before July's election. Most opinion polls put her in second place, 20 percentage points behind Enrique Peña Nieto, the candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary party (the PRI). The PRI held the presidency for 71 uninterrupted years with the help of soft authoritarianism and poll fiddling before finally yielding to calls to open the system to full political plurality in 2000. Vicente Fox's victory for the PAN in that year was hailed as the coming of democracy to Mexico . The PRI's resurgence reflects public disappointment over the PAN's limited achievements in government. Mexican presidents are constitutionally limited to one six-year term.

Fox ended his with an image of ineffectiveness but his party colleague, Felipe Calderón, still managed to secure a wafer thin victory in bitter and polarised elections in 2006 . Calderón's main rival, the leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the Party of Democratic Revolution (the PRD), cried fraud. The PAN now approaches the end of Calderón's term with the country immersed in violent drug wars that have killed around 50,000 people. Mexico's chronic economic problems, including the poverty affecting around half the population, remain as acute as ever. "Josefina arrives with a weakened party," said Soledad Loaeza, a political science professor in Colegio de México who has studied the evolution of the PAN. "The electorate is not willing to see her as an alternative." López Obrador has again secured the left's presidential candidacy, but his bid is hampered by the residual ill-will left by the political crisis he triggered with his refusal to accept defeat in 2006 . Vázquez Mota has built her candidacy on a conciliatory but firm image, as well as a subtle but clear effort to distance herself from Calderón to whom she was once close.

Her clearest electoral promise so far has been to pledge life imprisonment for corrupt politicians. Her main rival, Cordero, fought his campaign for the party nomination on his professed pride in the record of the Calderón presidency. The internal campaign became tense in the final weeks with Vázquez Mota's team accusing Cordero of dirty tricks. In her victory speech Vázquez Mota sought to move the campaign on to the task of establishing herself as the woman to stop the PRI returning to power. She accused Peña Nieto of "representing authoritarianism and the worst antidemocratic practices," as well as "a return to corruption as a system and impunity as a sentence." Peña Nieto greeted Vazquez Mota's victory with a tweet on his official account. "Congratulations and welcome to the democratic contest," it read. "May it be for the good of Mexico." Woman to head major party ticket in Mexico - CSMonitor.com Woman to head major party ticket in Mexico Latest News Save for later Saved Josefina Vazquez Mota waves the National Action Party (PAN) flag after winning the primary election to be the National Action Party’s candidate for president, in Mexico city Sunday.

Voters from Mexico's ruling conservative party selected Vazquez Mota as their first woman presidential candidate on Sunday, choosing a former education minister to battle the opposition's nominee, who has a big lead in the polls, ahead of the July 1 general election. Edgard Garrido/Reuters of Mexico City — “I am going to be the first female Mexican president.” Those are the words of Josefina Vazquez Mota, who was just selected by Mexico ’s ruling National Action Party (PAN) to be their candidate in the upcoming July 1 race. This is the first time a woman in Mexico is heading a major party ticket as a presidential candidate. In many ways she is tapping into the fervor that has seen the Latin American electorate choose women to head Brazil , Argentina , Costa Rica , Chile , and beyond. Recommended: Seven women who shaped the world in 2011 But beyond changing gender roles in the region, the former education minister is hoping to appeal to women – young university students, working mothers, the poor – where her male counterparts have sometimes seemed aloof and out of touch with the realities faced by families in Mexico. Photos of the Day Photos of the Day 01/17 Within the PAN, Ms.

Vazquez Mota challenged former finance minister Ernesto Cordero, who came in second during the weekend vote, and former senator Santiago Creel , who came in distant third. Mr. Cordero was unable to shake off criticism from his time as finance minister, when he said that 6,000 pesos a month, or about $475, was a salary that offered the accoutrements of middle class life, including a car and private school for kids. The comment spread across Twitter . PAN was the last of three major parties to select their candidate, and Vazquez Mota will now face former Mexico State Gov. Enrique Peña Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) , which held onto power for 71 years before being defeated by the PAN in 2000; and leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador from the Democratic Revolution Party (PDR). Mr. Lopez Obrador narrowly lost to President Felipe Calderon in 2006, declared fraud, and shut down central Mexico City for six weeks in protest. Mr. Peña Nieto has been the clear frontrunner of the race thus far.

According to a poll carried out by Consulta Mitofsky in Mexico City late last year, Peña Nieto was ahead with 42 percent support, compared to 21 percent for Vazquez Mota, and 17 percent for Lopez Obrador. But Peña Nieto has stumbled in recent months. Most notable was his gaffe at a book fair in Guadalajara , in which he could not name three books that most inspired him, earning him ridicule across newspaper columns and social media. But it was another of his stumbles that Vazquez Mota, a working mother with three daughters, was specifically able to use to her advantage: in an interview, he was unable to name the price for a kilo of tortillas, a staple in Mexico, and defended himself by quipping, “I am not the lady of the house." On a radio program afterwards, Vazquez Mota was asked if she was the “lady of the house." She responded, "I am a woman, and as a woman I am a housewife, I am a government official, I've been twice a government secretary, I've been leader of a parliamentary group, I am an economist," reports the LA Times .

"And indeed, all of that along with being a housewife, a housewife who knows what happens every day at the dining table and in the kitchen … And although we may not be there for many hours, as is my case, and I'm sure your case and many others of us, every night we return to that space of the kitchen, return to check the refrigerator and see if everything is ready or what needs to be bought the next day," she said. While PAN is saddled with overseeing a violent crackdown against organized crime that has taken some 50,000 lives in nearly six years, and has been criticized for not doing enough to buoy the poor, Vazquez Mota can tout herself as the candidate with the capacity to care. “Today I’m committed to take care of your families like I’ve taken care of mine,” she said Sunday. “I want to make Mexico the best country to live in.” Next up Get the Monitor stories you care about delivered to your inbox.

Daily Mexico's Pena Nieto with big lead in election poll | Reuters Wed Jun 27, 2012 | 7:12 AM EDT Mexico's Pena Nieto with big lead in election poll 1/2 Josefina Vazquez Mota, presidential candidate for the ruling National Action Party (PAN), addresses supporters during a rally in in Monterrey June 26, 2012. Mexico will hold presidential elections on July 1. Reuters/Daniel Becerril + 2/2 Enrique Pena Nieto, presidential candidate of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), is cheered by supporters during a rally in Morelia, in the Mexican state of Michoacan June 26, 2012. Mexico will hold presidential elections on July 1. Reuters/Tomas Bravo + By David Alire Garcia | MEXICO CITY MEXICO CITY Mexican presidential front-runner Enrique Pena Nieto goes into Sunday's election with a clear lead over rivals, opinion polls showed on Wednesday as the campaign draws to a close.

The final voter survey of the campaign by polling firm Buendia & Laredo for newspaper El Universal showed Pena Nieto, of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, rising 4.2 percentage points to 41.2 percent from a previous poll published on June 18. That gave him a 17.4 point lead over leftist and 2006 runner-up Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who rose a 0.3 percentage point to 23.8 percent, the poll showed. Josefina Vazquez Mota, candidate of the ruling National Action Party (PAN), trailed in third place with 20.6 percent, a drop of a 0.8 percentage point from the previous survey. Another poll published Wednesday by polling firm BGC for Excelsior newspaper put Pena Nieto's support at 44 percent of voters, giving him a 16 point lead over Lopez Obrador's 28 percent support. The Excelsior/BGC poll had Vazquez Mota, bidding to become Mexico's first woman president, in third place with 25 percent support.

Wednesday marks the last official day of campaigning for the July 1 election as the candidates hold rallies around the country. Recent polls also indicate the PRI could achieve a working majority in both the Senate and lower house of Congress. That would help strengthen its mandate to push through fiscal and energy reforms that stalled under Calderon. Lopez Obrador, the former mayor of Mexico City, lost the 2006 election to President Felipe Calderon of the PAN in a tight finish and contested the results, staging months of protests and unnerving investors in Latin America's second-largest economy. He has stirred up fears of a repeat of the chaos this year, accusing the PRI of trying to rig the vote, though any protests would likely be short-lived if Pena Nieto wins by a wide margin. A close result would raise the risk of fresh demonstrations, particularly given Lopez Obrador has the support of a newly-emerged student movement that shook up the campaign with huge rallies. Mexican financial markets have already factored in a Pena Nieto win, so a close finish that puts his mandate and economic reforms at risk could spook investors and hit asset prices.

The Buendia & Laredo poll surveyed 2,000 eligible voters between June 22 and June 24. It had a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points, the newspaper said. Excelsior/BGC said it surveyed 1,200 eligible voters between June 23 and June 25 and that its poll had a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points. (Editing by Simon Gardner, Jon Boyle and W Simon) ADVERTISEMENT Mexico Ruling Party Picks First Woman Presidential Candidate | Fox News Mexico Ruling Party Picks First Woman Presidential Candidate Published February 06, 2012 Facebook 0 Twitter 0 livefyre Email Print Josefina Vasquez Mota, center, presidential candidate of Mexico's National Action Party, PAN, casts her vote during the party's primary elections in Huixquilucan, Mexico, Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012. If nominated Vasquez Mota would be the first woman of a major political party to run for Mexico's highest office. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini) Mexico made history Sunday night, with its ruling party's selection of a female presidential candidate.

The National Action Party picked Josefina Vázquez Mota, betting that the charismatic former congresswoman will help it erode the lead held by its powerful rival. After easily winning the National Action Party's primary Sunday night, Vázquez Mota vowed to unite a party battered by a bloody drug war and help it defeat the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mexico for 71 years before being ousted by National Action in 2000. "I will be the first woman president of Mexico in history," Vazquez Mota, 51, told cheering supporters. The party's vote for Vázquez Mota over two other candidates sets the race for Mexico's July 1 presidential election. The two other major parties had already selected their candidates. More On This... In Latin America, Rich Women Tower over Poor Vázquez Mota faces an uphill climb against former Mexico State Gov. Enrique Peña Nieto, the front-runner in the polls who could return Mexico's PRI to power after a 12-year hiatus. The leftist Democratic Revolution Party chose Andrés Manuel López Obrador , who is making his second run after a razor-thin loss in 2006 to President Felipe Calderón .

Mexico limits its presidents to a single six-year term. Mexico is Bound and Determined to Break the Record for Breaking World Records The personable, cheerful Vázquez Mota invited party members to help her beat the telegenic and handsome Peña Nieto, who is married to a glamorous telenovela star. "We begin a new road," said Vázquez Mota. "A road to defeat the real adversary of Mexico, who embodies authoritarianism and the worst antidemocratic practices; who represents the way back to corruption and offers impunity as a conviction. The adversary is Peña Nieto and his party." Vázquez Mota is considered the PRI's strongest challenger, though Mexican voters seem weary of the ruling National Action Party which has governed for 11 years. Delegates are betting that a woman candidate could boost party appeal. "It injects a certain new note of uncertainty. There's never been a strong female presidential candidate for any other major party before," said Eric Olson, a senior associate at the Woodrow Wilson Center's Mexico Institute. "It adds that historical element and maybe some excitement." Others argue that the party, known as the PAN, is tainted by a crackdown on drug cartels that has seen violence soar, stalled reforms and corruption.

Women on Top in Latin America "Josefina arrives with a weakened party," said Soledad Loaeza, a political science professor in Colegio de Mexico who has studied the evolution of the PAN. "The electorate is not willing to see her as an alternative." José Espina, president of the party's election commission, says Vázquez Mota obtained 55 percent in Sunday's primary, with 89 percent of the polling stations counted. The party's president, Gustavo Madero, later confirmed her nomination. She was not Calderón's choice to compete for the party, though he appointed her education secretary after she served as his campaign manager in 2006. The party establishment had supported former Finance Secretary Ernesto Cordero. But the party's rank-and-file membership handed her a victory from the polls. Her two opponents showed their support after the results were announced. More than 400,000 people voted in the primary Calderón was not the choice of his predecessor, Vicente Fox, whose election in 2000 booted the PRI out of office after 71 years of single-party rule.

The fact that Calderón still won the party nomination and went on to surprise everyone and defeat Lopez Obrador provides a template for Vázquez Mota to pull an upset, even though she now trails Peña Nieto by nearly 20 points in the polls. Cordero obtained 38 votes, and the third candidate Santiago Creel, a former senator who also ran in the 2006 primaries against Calderón, got 6 percent of the votes. Women have run for president in Mexico before, but not representing any of the three major parties. The PAN's choice of Vázquez Mota may have been the wisest, according to political analysts. Best Pictures of the Week "A PRI victory is still the most likely outcome, but it's almost inevitable the race will tighten," said Pamela Starr, a professor at the University of Southern California who writes on Mexican politics. "It will be an interesting campaign, regardless." Vázquez Mota's party opponents had complained she was a weak lawmaker and couldn't push through an educational reform as secretary. A married mother of three, Vázquez Mota has used her family life on the campaign trail to garner the support of Mexican mothers and young voters.

"Today I'm committed to take care of your families like I've taken care of mine," she said Sunday. "I want to make Mexico the best country to live in." Some say Mexico isn't prepared for a woman president, unlike other Latin American countries, but analysts disagree. "I don't think Mexico is any less ready for a female president than Chile for example," Starr said. Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Costa Rica are among the nations in Latin America that have recently elected women to their higher posts. This is based on a story by The Associated Press. Follow us on twitter.com/foxnewslatino

Question: In 2012 Josefina Vazquez Mota became a presidential candidate for the ruling National Action Party (PAN) in which country?
Answer: Mexico