Mexico experiences its most violent electoral process in modern history

Mexico is amidst its most violent electoral process in modern history. This was stated by the organization Integralia Consultores, which counted, from September 2023 to April 2024, at least 300 incidents of political violence with 399 victims, which implies an average of 1.8 fatalities per day.

"With just over 60 days to go before the election, the 2023-2024 electoral process is already the most violent in Mexico's modern history. Candidates and aspiring candidates concentrate 31.8% of the aggression, public officials or former public officials 24.1% and politicians or ex-politicians 22.1%. The rest of the victims are family members and others," detailed the organization in its latest report published in April.

In this regard, the organization explained that regionally, violence is concentrated in the west and center of the country. Guerrero, Michoacán and Morelos are the states with the highest number of registered victims.

At least 33 aspiring candidates for public office murdered

As the electoral campaign draws to a close with elections being held on June 2, violence does not seem to be slowing down. On the contrary, last week, a mayoral candidate in the Mexican town of La Concordia, in the southern state of Chiapas, was shot dead along with five other people, including a minor, according to the local prosecutor's office.

The victim was Lucero López Maza, 28 years old and a member of the Popular Chiapaneco Party, which has a local presence.

"According to the first investigations, there was a confrontation between armed civilians" following a campaign event of the candidate, detailed a statement from the state prosecutor's office which was accessed by AFP.

That same week, it was learned that Luis Ángel Flores, candidate to lead the municipality of Rayón for the local party Chiapas Unido, was wounded in a shooting attack. While on May 3, Juan Gómez, candidate for mayor of the municipality Benemérito de las Américas, also for the Chiapas Unido party, was unharmed in a shooting attack that left two dead, one of them the politician's son.

According to the latest report from the organization Laboratorio Electoral, which was updated with the death of candidate Lucero Lopez, at least 70 people have been killed in cases related to electoral violence. Of these, at least 33 were aspiring candidates.

List made by Voz Media with data from Laboratorio Electoral.

Violence at the center of the largest election in Mexican history

Likewise, the organization explained that political parties have reported more than 50 cases of threats to potential candidates.

Laboratorio Electoral had already warned about the increase in political violence in Mexico in recent years:

"Political violence and generalized violence in Mexico have seen serious increases during the last few years. National organizations such as Data Cívica have also initiated monitoring processes to understand how the increase in violence has been having strong impacts on the country's democratic life," the NGO said.

This news comes just days before what the National Electoral Institute described as the largest elections in Mexico's history.

"In 2024 there will be a projection of approximately 98 million voters, and the installation of 170 thousand unique polling stations throughout the national territory, as well as the participation of 1,530,027 officials and officials of Polling Stations, which will be the largest Electoral Process in the history of Mexico," explained the INE on its official website.