On June 6, some ninety-five million Mexicans will be called to the polls for the largest set of elections in the nation’s history. Some twenty-one thousand offices will be in dispute, including mayorships, state legislatures, fifteen governors, and all five hundred members of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the federal Congress. Squaring off against the governing MORENA coalition will be an unholy alliance of right-wing parties composed of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the National Action Party (PAN), and the straggling ruins of the once-proud Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).

Amongst the frenzy of campaigns, spots, and controversies, one thing is clear: Mexico in 2021 is not the same country as it was in 2018.

There are scholarships for students, apprenticeships for nonstudents, a universal pension for seniors, benefits for the disabled, and insurance for the unemployed. For small businesses, there are interest-free microcredits and for farmers, a series of programs providing for technical training, fertilizers, a basic package of foodstuffs, and price supports for staple crops.