MEXICO CITY (AP) – A Mexican ruling party state candidate accused of rape, who later canceled his candidacy for other reasons by regulatory authorities, said Sunday he will not allow elections in his state of origin unless permitted to appear.
Felix Salgado opts for the government of the conflict state of Guerrero, on the Pacific coast. Although two women accused him of rape, he has not been charged and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena party allowed him to continue running.
But in late March, election regulators ordered him to withdraw from the ballot, saying he did not report campaign spending. Last week, the country’s electoral tribunal ordered the Federal Electoral Institute to reconsider that decision.
Salgado leads a caravan of vehicles to protest at the polling station office in Mexico City and on Sunday, Salgado said that unless that decision is overturned, he will not allow the June elections in Guerrero to take place. without him.
“If we are at the polls, there will be elections,” Salgado told a crowd of supporters in Iguala, Guerrero. “If you do not participate in the ballot, there will be no choice.”
The threat is totally credible in Guerrero, which is home to the Acapulco resort.
Guerrero is a state plagued by violence with a mosaic of drug gangs, vigilantes and militant agricultural groups that sometimes overlap. Elections have been partially disrupted and many former governors have been forced to step down before their terms end.
López Obrador has defended Salgado and criticized groups of women who opposed her candidacy and called it “an attack on democracy.”
The National Electoral Institute ruled in late March that Salgado had not reported the money he spent during the primary process and that his candidacy would no longer be officially recognized. But the court ordered the institute to review that decision.
Mexico will hold midterm state and federal elections on June 6.
Salgado won the nomination of López Obrador’s Morena party despite protests by women’s rights activists. He has not personally addressed the allegations, although his lawyer has denied them.
Salgado has not been charged; the limitation period has expired in one case and the other is still being investigated.
Salgado, nicknamed Toro, or “Bull,” is a former federal legislator and mayor of Alacapulco, known for questionable behavior in the past. In 2000 he was filmed fighting with police in Mexico City.