“On Sunday, Mexicans will go to the polls to vote on more than 20,000 elected positions in the largest election in a generation. This year’s vote will also likely yield the country’s first woman president — former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum or Sen. Xóchitl Gálvez. As elections experts and democracy professionals, we are watching this historic democratic exercise with excitement — and concern. Mexico’s electoral machinery is struggling in the face of violence and threats. The quality of the Mexican vote matters to the United States because the challenges our ally and biggest trading partner faces — northward migration, economic development and narcotrafficking — are our challenges too. Solving them starts with free, fair elections that deliver a strong mandate to Mexico’s leaders.
“This electoral cycle in Mexico is already the most violent in recent memory. In the seven months from September to May 2, 560 victims suffered lethal and nonlethal electoral violence; there have been at least 195 election-related killings, including at least 34 candidates. In the last election cycle, 2020-21, among 299 victims of election-related violence, there were 88 killings. Turf wars in recent months between battling cartels and organized crime syndicates are putting candidates and politicians in the crosshairs at the local level and in a handful of states in central and southern Mexico. …”
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