Mexicans go to the polls in election marked by political violence

After a campaign marked by political violence, more than 98 million Mexicans go to the polls on Sunday (June 2, 2024). 20,708 representatives will be elected, including the Presidency of the Republic and Congress, as well as governors, mayors and other local authorities.

Political violence in Mexico is nothing new. In the 2018 general elections, 17 candidates or aspirants were murdered, especially in the most violent regions controlled by cartels.

This year, violence spread across the country and became a threat to democracy on the eve of the biggest election ever held in Mexico. According to a survey by Laboratorio Electoral, the states with the highest incidence of electoral violence were Michoacán, Chiapas, Morelos, Jalisco, State of Mexico, Puebla, Guerrero and Oaxaca.

O think tank Mexican reported the occurrence of 320 cases of electoral violence from June 4, 2023 to May 29 of this year. Of the total, 93 were murders, 36 of which were candidates or pre-candidates. 131 cases of threats were recorded, which lead many candidates to withdraw; 77 attacks; and 17 kidnappings.

The government, however, acknowledged the murder of 22 candidates. The number also varies between different surveys by independent groups.

The crimes, for the most part, target local politicians or their families. Morena, owned by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was the one that recorded the most victims, with a dozen candidates murdered.

On Wednesday (May 29), Obrador stated in an interview with journalists that the elections will be “clean”, “livres” e “safe”.

“We are reviewing what must be guaranteed for these days, especially on Sunday, so that people can vote calmly, safely, with freedom, without fear, without fear, so that we can all participate”, these.

To reinforce security, 27,245 Armed Forces officers were deployed for an operation on voting day. They will join the 233,543 agents who are already working.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Claudia Sheinbaum, 61 years old, leads the voting intention polls handily. According to the research aggregator Polls.mxthe candidate of the governing coalition “Let’s Continue Making History” (Morena, Green Party and Labor Party) and former mayor of Mexico City, has 58% of voting intentions

She is followed by former senator Xóchitl Gálvez, 61 years old, from the center-right coalition “Strength and Heart for Mexico”, formed by the PAN-PRI-PRD parties, with 31%; and by former deputy Jorge Alvarez Máynez, 38 years old, from the Citizen Movement, further to the right, with 10%.

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