A Mexican politician whose candidacy was canceled by regulators threatened on Sunday to block elections in his state unless he is allowed to run, the Associated Press reports.
Felix Salgado appears like governor of the Mexican state of Guerrero. He was charged with rape by two women. His party, the Morena Party, which is the same as Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, allowed him to continue his career.
However, election regulators in late March ordered Salgado to withdraw from the ballot because no campaign spending was reported according to AP reports. Mexico’s electoral tribunal ordered the Federal Electoral Institute (FEI) to reconsider its decision last week.
Salgado, the former mayor of the spa town of Acapulco, has not personally addressed allegations of rape against him, the AP reports, although his lawyer has denied them. He has not been charged.
López Obrador defended Salgado and considered the objections to his candidacy to be “an attack on democracy”.
“If we are at the polls, there will be elections,” Salgado told Guerrero supporters after leading a caravan of protesters at the FEI office in Mexico City on Sunday.
“If they’re not on the ballot, there will be no choice,” Salgado said.
The AP points out that Salgado does not make an empty threat. Guerrero is a state surrounded by gangs of violence and drug trafficking, and many elections have been previously interrupted. Previous governors have been forced to step down before the end of their terms. Salgado was previously filmed in a clash with police in 2000.
Mexico’s midterm state and federal elections will be held on June 6.