Around 222 electoral centers will not open their doors in this Sunday’s elections in Mexico due to security problems or social conflicts, which would affect approximately 120,000 voters, according to what the National Electoral Institute (INE) reported.
A large part of the centers, 108, are located in Chiapas, a state bordering the south of the United States, where disputes have been carried out by organized crime that suspended the elections in the municipalities of Chicomuselo and Pantelhó due to violence, which on Friday led to the burning of electoral packages.
The same thing happened with Michoacán, a state located in western Mexico, they will not open 84 voting centers due to the wave of insecurity that the region is experiencing due to criminal groups.
There are more entities that were affected by this situation: Oaxaca with nine, Nuevo León with eight, Guanajuato with four, Colima with three, Tlaxcala with two, and Chihuahua, Nayarit, Sinaloa and Mexico City with one each, said Miguel Ángel Patiño. , executive director of electoral organization of the INE, in a press conference.
These closures occur in the midst of widespread electoral violence in the country, with 22 murdered candidates recognized by the Mexican government, although independent groups have recorded, 31 reported by Data Cívica and 34 by the consulting firm Intergalia, which increased the number to 250 homicides. politicians by including advisors, officials and family.
In this sense, the INE promised security in the elections, saying that these 222 tables are just over 0.1% of the approximately 170,000 that are being installed throughout Mexico.
“Let them do it (vote) with peace of mind, if the authority has already authorized it. If that box is installed, go with the peace of mind that, for that box, you have a way to travel the roads to reach it in peace and security,” the president of the INE, Guadalupe Taddei, told the media.
For its part, the Secretary of the Navy (Semar) reported the deployment of 27,245 members of the Armed Forces for the election security operation, which will be added to the 233,543 who already carry out public security tasks.
“All the measures we are taking help ensure that all citizens feel accompanied by the security forces. That is what we have to tell them, those that are installed are safe,” Taddei remarked.
Concern about security increases because these are the largest elections in the history of Mexico, where more than 98 million people are called to change more than 20,000 political positions, including the Presidency, 500 deputies and 128 senators and nine state governments.
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