Violence casts a pall over upcoming Mexican mid-term elections (June 3, 2015)

Another political candidate was killed yesterday in Mexico, with only five days before midterm election voting begins. Miguel Ángel Luna Munguía, a Partido Revolucionario Democrático candidate running for Congress in a district just east of México DF, was shot point-blank yesterday while planning a campaign event, reports La Jornada.

It is the fifth murder of a an election involved politician (mostly candidates) this year, reports El Daily Post. There is disagreement about the extent of deaths this year -- TeleSur reports eight assassinated candidates, while AP says four. As of last month, El Universal was reporting 41 victims of electoral violence -- 7 deaths and 34 victims of aggression, including car burnings, death threats and attacks on their homes. Three candidates -- in Guerrero, Michoacán and Tabasco -- were killed in May, and one person was murdered earlier this year. Campaign workers have also been targets. 

Political parties and candidates have been the target of heightened violence since February, according to TeleSur, as criminal gangs have attempted to impose their own candidates for the upcoming elections or influence elected officials.  Already in March the PAN and PRD parties had asked for protection for their candidates.

While at least 20 candidates are receiving official protection, authorities say it's impossible to guard all of the candidates for the nearly 2,000 offices to be voted on this weekend, according to EFE.

And dozens of people have been reported dead in violence related cases in May alone, according toTeleSur, including seven killed in Baja California, 14 murdered in Tijuana; 11 executed in Guerrero, and four bodies found wrapped in blankets in Chilapa.

Over the weekend a coalition of civil society organizations led a "march for peace" in the capital, supporting security forces' fight against organized crime ahead of the elections, reports TeleSur in a separate piece.

Adding to the pall cast by the violence against candidates, Sunday's polls are also being contested by a teachers' union, which is urging a boycott and potential actions to shut down polling stations. (See yesterday's post.) Teachers in Oaxaca burned about 13,000 ballots on Monday. Union members yesterday continued to cause disturbances in Oaxaca and Chiapas, reports Animal Político.  In Guerrero 20 masked members of the Guerrero People's Movement burned 87,00 ballots (116,000 according to the AP) and in Veracruz about 30 masked individuals threw molotov cocktails at an electoral office.

Officials have upped security at electoral offices, but the National Electoral Institute says it won't install voting stations if the security of electoral officials cannot be guaranteed, reports TeleSur. Authorities are working on replacing the destroyed ballots.

In Iguala, the Guerrero state town where 43 students disappeared last year will be choosing new leaders this weekend as well, reports EFE. But just eight months after becoming a potent symbol of outrage in Mexico and around the world, locals are not ready to turn the page. "How to vote if 43 are missing," reads a sign outside of the municipality building. The parents of the disappeared students have asked that the elections be suspended, as they say the minimum security requirements cannot be met.

Participation in the elections could be as low as 50 percent, according to polls, affected by factors that include concerns for safety, reports TeleSur. More than 83 million Mexicans are eligible to cast ballots July 7 to choose 500 federal legislators, nine state governors and hundreds of regional and local office holders.

The election results will be critical for the second half of President Enrique Peña Nieto's mandate, according to EFE. While he is lauded by some for his political reform (although his educational reform is what has the teachers' union up in arms), his administration has been buffeted by increased violence, symbolized potently by the missing 43 Ayotzinapa students.

The president of the National Electoral Institute, Lorenzo Córdova, says that Mexico is gambling its "democratic future" on the elections, which are the country's "most complex," in light of the boycott threats in Guerrero and Oaxaca and the general issue of insecurity in most of the country, reportsEFE.
The ruling PRI party is ahead in the polls, according to Reuters, which might permit Peña Nieto to preserve his slim majority in the congressional lower chamber.

News Briefs

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