Some 200 candidates request protection in Mexico; figure has doubled in days

The number of candidates who have requested protection from the Government of Mexico has almost doubled in the last 10 days to 200 in the midst of campaigns that have left dozens of murders, as revealed this Wednesday by the president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Of these requests, the president detailed, There are already 186 candidates who have protection, including the three presidential candidatesthe ruling party Claudia Sheinbaum and the opposition Xóchitl Gálvez and Jorge Álvarez Máynez.

Meanwhile, three applications are still pending evaluation and the other 11 people ultimately declined protection, as detailed.

Just last week, the Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Rosa Icela Rodríguez, reported 108 protection requests received and 86 granted until April 1.

The federal official recognized the murder of 15 candidates in the current process leading to the June 2 electionswhich officially began last October 1.

But the Electoral Laboratory organization reported that day that the figure could be 50 victims when also considering family members, politicians or public officials, as detailed in the ‘Second preliminary report on electoral violence of the 2023-2024 process’.

The federal government has offered protection to presidential candidates, the nine state governments and those seeking to be deputies and senators.

Furthermore, the The president announced this Wednesday that electoral magistrates will also have protection from the Government after an attack against personnel of the Electoral Tribunal of the Judicial Branch of the Federation (TEPJF) that left two dead on Tuesday in Mexico City.

“I don’t believe (that the magistrates are threatened), but they have not expressed it. Yes (there will be protection), and we also made the decision to provide protection to anyone who requests it,” he said.

Political violence grows as Mexico approaches the biggest elections in its historyon June 2, when more than 97 million voters are called to elect more than 20,000 positions, including the presidency, Congress and nine state governments.