The ruling party candidate, Claudia Scheinbaum, is widely expected to win Sunday’s vote.
Mexico City:
Mexico’s election was the bloodiest in the country’s modern history after a local candidate in the central state of Puebla was killed at a political rally on Friday, bringing the number of candidates assassinated to 37 ahead of Sunday’s vote.
Jorge Huerta Cabrera, a candidate for city council in the town of Izcar de Matamoros, was shot dead in the attack, according to the state prosecutor’s office.
The killing brings the number of candidates assassinated during the 2024 election season to 37, one more than the 2021 midterm elections, when 36 candidates were killed, according to data from security consultancy Integria.
The issue of violent crime has emerged as one of the main issues in this year’s presidential election, with the opposition trying to use the bloodshed to make the case for reform, forcing outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s party to defend a still-high murder rate.
Ruling party candidate Claudia Scheinbaum is widely expected to win Sunday’s vote and become Mexico’s first female president.
“Violence may be used as a means to predetermine the outcome of elections, especially when certain interests are seen to be at risk if a particular political project wins,” said Armando Vargas, a researcher at Integria.
The consultancy also counted 828 non-lethal attacks against candidates this election cycle, up from 749 from Monday.
Analysts say a combination of Mexico’s powerful drug cartels and corrupt local governments contribute to the dangers facing candidates.
Earlier this week, a local mayoral candidate in the southern state of Guerrero was shot and killed at close range during a campaign rally.
He was one of 560 candidates and election officials who were assigned security guards by the government due to persistent intimidation.
Friday’s brutal assassination was captured on video and sparked mayhem at the rally after gunshots rang out.
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