By EFE
02 Jun 2024, 21:07 PM EDT
Mexico City, June 2 (EFE).- The voting centers for the presidential election closed at 6:00 p.m. local time (00:00 GMT) in most of the territory of Mexico, where within a few hours it is expected meet the person who will succeed the current president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Polling stations remain open in the states with the Pacific time zone: Baja California, Baja California Sur, Nayarit, Sinaloa and Sonora, which will close at 6:00 p.m. local time (01:00 GMT).
The National Electoral Institute (INE) will publish the Preliminary Electoral Results Program (PREP) starting at 8:00 p.m. (02:00 GMT), while between 10:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. and 05:00 GMT) will announce the quick count, which could define the person who won the presidency.
The main race will define who will succeed López Obrador, who expects the victory of the official candidate, Claudia Sheinbaum, over the opponents Xóchitl Gálvez, from the Fuerza y Corazón por México coalition, and Jorge Álvarez Máynez, from Movimiento Ciudadano (MC ).
Of the 170,182 approved voting centers, the INE reported the installation of 169,884, 99.98%, with the participation of nearly 1.5 million officials.
The autonomous body acknowledged on Saturday that it would not open 222 polling stations due to insecurity or conflicts, the majority in the states of Chiapas (108) and Michoacán (84), but for the rest it did not detail the reasons for the closure.
Mexico has the largest election in its history with more than 98 million people called to renew more than 20,000 positions, including the presidency, the 500 deputies, the 128 senators and nine state governments.
But they have also been the most violent, with 22 murdered candidates recognized by the Government, although independent groups record more, such as the consulting firm Integralia, which raises the figure to around 250 political homicides by including advisors, officials, family members and collateral victims.
At least two people died this Sunday in shootings at voting centers in Puebla, a state in the center of the country, while hours before the start of the elections, candidate Israel Delgado Vega, an official seeking to be a trustee in the municipality of Cuitzeo, in Michoacán.
The Armed Forces deployed 27,245 elements for the election security operation, which joined the 233,543 that already carry out public security tasks.
Keep reading:
• Xóchitl Gálvez called on voters to “go out without fear” after voting in Mexico City
• OAS Mission trusts that Mexicans “will overcome fear” in the elections
• At least 222 voting centers will not open in Mexico due to insecurity and conflicts