And Mexicans are set to go to polls in a
historic presidential election.
Barring a major upset, the Latin American country is likely
to elect its first woman president as the two leading
candidates,
both women. The candidate for the ruling party,
Morena Claudia Scheinbaum, is heavily favored to win the presidency.
Opinion polls have put her at a 20 point advantage
over main opposition candidate Shoshel Galvez,
a senator with the center right National Action Party.
Close to 100 million Mexicans are eligible to vote.
The polls will open at 8:00 AM local time,
close at 6:00 PM. The first official preliminary results are
also expected on the same day at around 10:00 PM
local time.
The winner will take office on the 1st of October.
The next president will inherit a country with a slowing
economy and an elevated rate of violent crime.
Voting was suspended in two municipalities in southern Mexico just
a day before polls due to a spike in violence
that prevented polling booths from being set up.
In many cities, police, the armed forces were deployed.
In fact, these elections are the bloodiest in the country's
history,
with the assassination of 37 political candidates.
The latest murder was all for Gay Huerta Carvera,
a candidate running for a council seat,
According to the state prosecutors office.
He was gunned down during a rally.
Earlier this week, a local mayoral candidate in southern Guerrero
state was also gunned down at point blank range during
a campaign rally.
He was among 560 candidates and election officials have been
given security guards by the government due to persistent threats.
Analysts say Mexico makes a powerful drug cartels and often
corrupt local governments have contributed to the dangers faced by
the candidates.
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