In Mexico, key election in the State of Mexico before the presidential election of 2024

Faced with thousands of supporters gathered for his last major campaign meeting, Sunday May 26, in Toluca, Alejandra Del Moral underlines the gravity of the moment. “The hour of the final battle has arrived”, thunders the candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI, a conservative party which governed Mexico for more than seventy years) for the seat of governor of the State of Mexico. With a clenched fist, this 39-year-old woman still launches: “The State of Mexico is sacred, it is our home. »

« Morena [le nom du parti du président, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, dit “AMLO”], out ! », responds, in chorus, the crowd gathered in the main square of the capital of the State of Mexico. The public loudly waves pink, red, yellow and blue flags, the colors of the parties supporting Alejandra Del Moral in the elections taking place on Sunday, June 4, to renew the local government.

Of the thirty-two states that make up the Mexican federation, that of Mexico concentrates issues that go beyond the regional scale. Its 12.7 million voters make it the country’s main source of votes. Sunday’s elections have a strong symbolic dimension: a defeat for Alejandra Del Moral could mark the ” the begining of the end “ of the PRI, of which the State of Mexico is a historic stronghold, explains sociologist Bernardo Barranco. A victory for Delfina Gomez, the candidate of “AMLO” and her party, would solidify the lead of Claudia Sheinbaum, the mayor (Morena) of Mexico City, as the 2024 presidential candidate, with strong chances of becoming the first female president of Mexico.

In 2022, 2,640 murders, including 140 feminicides

Most of the state’s 17 million inhabitants – half of whom are poor – live in huge dormitory towns on the outskirts of Mexico City, in a situation of precariousness and insecurity: in 2022, the government identified 2,640 assassinations, including 140 feminicides. The state also contains islands of wealth partitioned into secure residential neighborhoods, and a vast rural area, part of which is occupied by armed groups.

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Although the electorate of the State of Mexico voted largely for “AMLO” in the 2018 presidential election and the polls give her favorite rival, supporters of Alejandra Del Moral refuse to consider a failure. “The polls are wrong, the reality will come out of the ballot papers at midnight. We will not lose the State of Mexico”predicts Alberto Barragan, dressed in a sleeveless red down jacket adorned with the PRI coat of arms.

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