Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Barred Mexican vows to block election

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MEXICO CITY — A Mexican ruling party state candidate accused of rape, who later had his candidacy canceled by regulatory authoritie­s on other grounds, said Sunday that he will not allow elections in his home state unless he is allowed to run.

Felix Salgado is running for the governorsh­ip of the Pacific coast state of Guerrero. While two women accused him of rape, he has not been charged and was allowed by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s Morena party to continue running.

But in late March, elections regulators ordered him taken off the ballot, saying he failed to report campaign spending. The country’s electoral court last week ordered the Federal Electoral Institute to reconsider that decision.

Salgado is leading a caravan of vehicles to protest at the electoral institute’s office in Mexico City, and on Sunday, he said that unless that decision is overturned, he won’t allow the June 16 state and federal midterm elections in Guerrero to occur.

The threat is entirely believable in Guerrero, a violence-plagued state with a patchwork of drug gangs, vigilantes and militant farm groups. Elections have been disrupted in the past, and many former governors have been forced from office before finishing their terms.

Lopez Obrador has defended Salgado and criticized women’s groups who objected to his candidacy.

The statute of limitation­s ran out on one rape case against Salgado, and the other is still being investigat­ed. He has not personally addressed the accusation­s, though his lawyer has denied them.

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