Mexico City, June 4 (teleSUR-RHC)-- The electoral campaigns ahead of Sunday’s midterm voting came to a close late Wednesday amid violence affecting at least seven states and the deaths of at least 21 people directly related to elections, including at least 10 candidates, various news outlets reported.
The head of the National Electoral Institute (INE) Lorenzo Cordova attempted to appease voters and announced that alternate polling stations would be put in place in the southern states of Oaxaca and Guerrero, where protesters are fiercely opposed to the elections, and have demonstrated their rejection by raiding electoral offices and burning ballots and other voting materials.
Violence continued to be reported in many states, but especially in Chiapas, Oaxaca and Guerrero. These also happen to be the states with greater levels of poverty, while Guerrero is the most violent state in the country along with Sinaloa. These two states are also the most affected by organized crime, drug trafficking and corruption.
Two months of electoral campaigning came to an end, as some 80 million voters are registered to exercise their right to vote for 500 lower house of Congress members, nine governors in as many states. In total, about 1,990 electoral posts are up for grabs June 7.
Questions loom whether violence, insecurity and protests will allow people to go to polling stations or if abstention will reach levels below 40 percent, further shadowing the government of President Enrique Peña Nieto, who faces his first test since taking power in December 2012.
