Xóchitl Gálvez is preparing his ‘last bullet’ for the second presidential debate, what will his strategy be? – The financial

Sheinbaum entered the race with the president’s strong backing, which has contributed to his popularity. She is less charismatic than her mentor and has worked to attract sectors that generally do not support her leadership by explaining her business plans to business leaders. energy transition and growth strategies in the states that least support the current administration.

Speaking from the heart, Xóchitl’s strategy for the second debate

But the next debate, scheduled for 8 p.m. in Mexico City, may play in favor of Gálvez.

The candidates will debate economic growth, employment and inflation, issues that could give Gálvez more space to present herself as the pro-business candidate. She has criticized López Obrador for his management of the energy sector and for not improving security conditions.

A campaign staff member who worked for a Gálvez adviser said preparations for the first debate were rigorous, but focused too much on statistics for the candidate to recite them. This time, he added, he will have to speak from the heartwhich is how it best connects with the public.

It will be an opportunity, and at the same time a challenge, for Gálvez to improve his strategy of direct criticism, which has shown signs of being counterproductive. He gained followers by dressing up as a dinosaur in the Senate to show how retrograde the ruling party’s ideas were and demanding the right to participate in the president’s press conference during the same time. But commentators have highlighted Sheinbaum’s unflappable demeanor as more presidential (Gálvez called her “The Ice Lady” in the previous debate).

Political analysts have also questioned whether Gálvez has enough experience to develop a political strategy, while Sheinbaum has the advantage of having been the head of government of Mexico City.

Gálvez, a businesswoman who has highlighted her indigenous and working class origin, fought from the beginning of the campaign to win the unequivocal support of the different parties that make up the opposition coalition, whose actors are the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and the National Action Party (BREAD), Besides of PRDsmaller.

He has tried to present himself as officially unaffiliated with any party, to avoid criticism of his performance when he held public office in the 2000s and early 2010s, before López Obrador’s landslide victory in 2018.

“It does not have the presence of statesperson, basically you can’t change it,” says Alejandro Schtulman, director of the analysis firm EMPRA. “There is also the problem that she lacks that structure of a partyshe is having to be very friendly with the people of the PRI, hang out with people from the PRD, in the PAN they don’t like her very much either.”

However, one of Gálvez’s main advisors, the former Minister of Economy Ildefonso Guajardosaid that Gálvez is the best candidate for attract foreign investment to Mexico.

At an event held this week in Mexico City organized by BloombergGuajardo also offered a possible preview of Gálvez’s line of attack during the debate. She told market-savvy attendees that she is best equipped to address infrastructure deficiencies that may discourage companies looking to relocate closer to the U.S. market from choosing Mexico.

“We could have a rescue mechanism to be able to invest in what is today the main bottleneck for the development of industrial parks, which is energy supply and infrastructure,” said Guajardo. About Gálvez, he added, “she is a woman for pragmatic solutions. No, it does not have ideologized elements that prevent it from seeing which decisions best benefit Mexicans.”