MEXICO CITY (AP) – A Mexican rape party accused of rape, who later had his candidate canceled by the regulatory authorities on other grounds, said on Sunday he would not allow elections in his home country unless he was allowed to to participate in the election.
Félix Salgado presents himself for the governorship of the troubled state of Guerrero in the Pacific. While two women accused him of rape, he was not charged and was allowed to continue by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena party.
But at the end of March, electoral regulators ordered him to cast his ballot, saying he had not reported spending on campaigns. The country’s electoral court ordered the Federal Electoral Institute last week to reconsider the decision.
Salgado leads a caravan of vehicles to protest at the constituency’s office in Mexico City, and on Sunday Salgado said unless the decision is overturned, he will not allow the June election in Guerrero to take place without him.
“If we are on the ballot, there will be elections,” Salgado told a crowd of supporters in Iguala, Guerrero. “If there is no vote, there will be no election.”
The threat is quite credible in Guerrero, home of the resort of Acapulco.
Guerrero is a violence-ridden state with a patchwork of drug gangs, vigilantes and militant farm groups that sometimes overlap. Elections have been partially disrupted in the past, and many former governors have been forced out of office before completing their tenure.
López Obrador defended Salgado and criticized groups of women who objected to his candidacy, calling it an “attack on democracy”.
The National Electoral Institute ruled at the end of March that Salgado could not report the money he had spent during the primary process and that his candidacy would no longer be officially recognized. But the court ordered the institute to review the ruling.
Mexico holds state and federal by-elections on June 6.
Salgado wins nomination for López Obrador’s Morena party despite protests by women’s rights activists. He did not personally address the allegations, although his lawyer denied it.
Salgado was not charged; the statute of limitations has run out on one case and the other is still being investigated.
Salgado, nicknamed Toro or ‘Bull’, is a former federal legislator and mayor of Acapulco, who has been known in the past for questionable behavior. He was hampered by police in the city of Mexico in 2000.