The National Electoral Institute (INE) of Mexico on Thursday revoked the candidacy of the official politician Félix Salgado Macedonio, who was a candidate for governor of the state of Guerrero, in the south of the country, and who for months has faced protests after being accused of abuse sexual.

With seven votes in favor and four against, the General Council of the INE determined on Thursday night, during a virtual session, that Salgado Macedonio, who has been supported by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, did not deliver his pre-campaign spending reports such as required by regulations and proceeded to withdraw his candidacy.

Salgado Macedonio, who is known as “el Toro”, has not been charged with charges and has had two formal complaints before the Prosecutor’s Office for sexual abuse.

The candidate for the ruling party National Regeneration Movement (Morena) is a popular politician who has been a senator, deputy and mayor of the tourist port of Acapulco.

Salgado Macedonio would have the possibility to appeal the decision in other instances and be able to participate in the electoral contest on June 6, in which the members of the Chamber of Deputies, 30 of the 32 state congresses, 15 governorships and thousands of positions will be elected.

The next elections will be key for López Obrador to secure a majority in Congress and the governorships and continue to govern comfortably in the remaining three years of his term.

Hours before the decision was known, Salgado Macedonio rejected the actions of the electoral body and said, in a statement released by a local news portal, that its actions do not go against legal regulations because “no public resources were allocated neither private, nor was any type of electoral or institutional propaganda disseminated, nor did I promote myself in a personalized way”.

Salgado Macedonio has also rejected the accusations of sexual violence against women and has attributed the accusations to a “political and media lynching without precedent in the history of Mexico.”

López Obrador faced protests at the beginning of the month in the framework of Women’s Day for his refusal to distance himself from the candidate for governor. The president attributed the attacks against Salgado Macedonio to manipulation by the conservative opposition and the enemies of his political project.

Former Guerrero state attorney Xavier Olea told The Associated Press that the current governor, Héctor Astudillo, ordered him in 2017 not to investigate one of the rape allegations against Salgado, a claim that Astudillo denies.

The electoral body also denied the registration of 27 candidates to federal deputies, of which 25 are from Morena, for not presenting their pre-campaign income and expenses reports, according to local media.

The national leader of Morena, Mario Delgado, accused the INE advisers on Thursday of trying to “turn down more than 60 candidates” from the electoral contest in six states, arguing that no pre-campaign reports were delivered.

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