Mexico closes its most violent campaign and awaits Sunday’s elections

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – After almost two months of vote promotion by candidates and parties, Mexico will close its most violent electoral campaign this Wednesday at midnight, at which time the period of reflection will begin in anticipation of Sunday’s mid-term elections, the largest in the country’s history.

The lowering of the campaign’s curtain, ordered by the electoral authority, will end the most violent process in terms of the number of aggressions registered against politicians, candidates, and aspirants.

According to data from the consulting firm Etellekt, since the beginning of the electoral process last September, which includes the pre-campaigns, 782 aggressions against politicians have been registered, such as beatings, kidnappings, or threats, a figure higher than the 774 of the 2018 presidential and local elections process.

In addition, the current campaign leaves 89 politicians murdered, 35 of them aspirants or candidates, although the 152 murders of 2018 were not surpassed.

Despite the figures, Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador said this Thursday in his morning press conference “that the country is at peace, there is governability, there is no risk of instability”.

Read also: Mexico elections – Ghosts of the past haunt a united opposition against López Obrador

“We are facing the scourge of violence every day, and we can speak of peace and tranquility in the country”, added the president, who has been pointed out for influencing the campaign in his press conferences even though he is prevented from doing so by law.

Next Sunday, more than 93 million Mexicans are called to vote for 500 federal deputies, 15 of 32 governors, 30 local congresses, and 1,900 city councils in the largest elections in Mexico’s history.

These elections bring face to face the leftist project of the National Regeneration Movement (Morena), founded by the President, and the opposition coalition of the three formerly hegemonic parties: National Action Party (PAN), Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), and Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).

These three joined forces try to remove the majority that supports López Obrador in the Lower House since the future of the president’s reform agenda that began in 2018 is at stake in this contest.

In the July 1 elections of that year, López Obrador swept 30 million votes and 53 %. Morena took control of the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate, and several states, including Mexico City.

With the end of the 2021 federal and local election campaigns this Wednesday, the period of veda or reflection will begin the first minute of this Thursday. It will conclude with the closing of the polling stations on Sunday afternoon.

In a press release, the National Electoral Institute (INE) reminded that during this period, “all electoral propaganda in printed media, radio and television must be suspended so that citizens can reflect on the direction of their vote”.

In addition, he informed that for the day, 162,815 voting centers would be installed in which a little more than 1.4 million citizens will act as officials.

Mexicans will be able to cast their vote from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. After the closing of the polling stations, the Preliminary Electoral Results Program (PREP), a projection of results made by the electoral authority while the votes are being counted, will begin.

Political analysts have considered that some races will be resolved in court.