Mexico: ‘Cheer up!’ says Andrés Manuel López Obrador after voting in elections that will define the person who will succeed him in the Government

“The vote is secret”Gutiérrez Müller responded to questions from the press about the meaning of the presidential couple’s suffrage.

(We explain: Andrés Manuel López Obrador leaves office two months early: the key points of the elections in Mexico)

López Obrador cannot be re-elected, since the Mexican Constitution prevents it, but he is betting on the victory of the official candidate, Claudia Sheinbaum, above the opponents Xóchitl Gálvez, from the Fuerza y ​​Corazón por México coalition, and Jorge Álvarez Máynez, from Movimiento Ciudadano (MC).

According to an average of surveys by the Oraculus firm, Sheinbaum, 61 years old and of Jewish origin, leads Gálvez by 17 percentage points, boosted by the popularity of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, his political godfather.

While the president was voting, the candidates were already lining up to participate in the elections in Mexico City.
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​(LIVE | Mexico 2024 Elections: this is how voting day goes in the country)

Mexico has the largest election in its history with more than 98 million people called to renew more than 20,000 positions, including the presidency, the 500 deputies, the 128 senators and 9 state governments.

The electorate’s highest priority has been violence, because although the Government has stated that the monthly incidence of homicides has fallen by more than 20% during López Obrador’s administration (2018-2024), the opposition denounces that his six-year term will end like the most violent with more than 180,000 murders.

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The elections have also been marked by violence, with 22 murdered candidates recognized by the Government, but Independent groups register more, such as 34 reported by the consulting firm Integralia, which raises the figure to around 250 political homicides by including advisors, officials, family members and collateral victims..

Even, hours before the start of election day, the murder of a candidate for a municipal oversight body was reported. This is Israel Delgado, 35 years old, aspiring trustee (comptroller) of the town of Cuitzeo, who was shot on Saturday night near his home, the Michoacán prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

(You can read: Mexico: the politicians and candidates murdered during the wave of violence in these elections)

According to the Michoacán prosecutor’s office, Delgado, a candidate for a center-left coalition, was attacked by two men on a motorcycle who fled.

That region has been one of the hardest hit by political violence, a phenomenon on the rise in Mexico since 2018 and behind which are organized crime organizations that dispute control of territories and seek to coerce local authorities.