In front of thousands of supporters gathered for his last major election meeting on Sunday, May 26, in Toluca, Alejandra Del Moral underlines the gravity of the moment. “The hour of the final battle has come”thunders the candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI, the conservative party that has governed Mexico for more than seventy years) for the office of governor of the State of Mexico. With a clenched fist, this 39-year-old woman still spews: “The State of Mexico is sacred, it is our home. »
” Morena [le nom du parti du président, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, dit “AMLO”], out ! », the crowd gathered in the main square of the capital of the state of Mexico responds in chorus. The public loudly waves pink, red, yellow and blue flags, the colors of the parties that support Alejandra Del Moral in the elections to be held on Sunday 4 June to renew the local government.
Of the thirty-two states that make up the Mexican federation, Mexico concentrates issues that go beyond the regional scale. Its 12.7 million voters make it the main source of votes in the country. Sunday’s elections have a strong symbolic dimension: a defeat for Alejandra Del Moral could mark the “the beginning of the end” of the PRI, of which the State of Mexico is a historical stronghold, explains the sociologist Bernardo Barranco. A victory of Delfina Gomez, the candidate of “AMLO” and her party, would strengthen the leadership of Claudia Sheinbaum, mayor (Morena) of Mexico City, as the 2024 presidential candidate, with strong chances of becoming the first female president of the Mexico.
In 2022, 2,640 homicides, of which 140 feminicides
Most of the 17 million inhabitants of the state – half of whom are poor – live in huge dormitory cities on the outskirts of Mexico City, in a situation of precariousness and insecurity: in 2022 the government identified 2,640 homicides, of which 140 feminicides. The state also contains islands of wealth divided into safe residential neighborhoods and a large rural area, part of which is occupied by armed groups.
Although Mexico State’s electorate largely voted for “AMLO” in the 2018 presidential election and polls give her favorite rival, Alejandra Del Moral’s supporters refuse to consider a failure. “The polls are wrong, the reality will come out on the ballots at midnight. We will not lose the State of Mexico”predicts Alberto Barragan, dressed in a red sleeveless puffer jacket emblazoned with the PRI crest.
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