The controversial Mexican politician Samuel García, of the liberal Citizen Movement (MC), has won the governorship of the northern state of Nuevo León, one of the key and most controversial races of the historic elections of this Sunday in Mexico.

The quick count of the National Electoral Institute (INE) and the State Electoral Commission of Nuevo León (CEENL) indicates that García has obtained between 35.4% and 37.2%, with which he becomes the president of the state richest in northern Mexico and, at 33, one of the youngest in the country.

The senator surpasses his closest rival Adrián de la Garza, from the former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in coalition with the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), which took between 26.8% and 28.5% of the suffrages.

Meanwhile, Fernando Larrazabal of the right-wing National Action Party (PAN) achieved between 17.9% and 19.3% of the preferences and Clara Luz Flores of the ruling National Regeneration Movement (Morena) from 13.7% to 15.3 % of the votes.

“Unlike exit polls, also known as ‘exit poll’, it is not based on interviews made to people outside the polls about the meaning of their vote, the quick count is based on data that the officials of box settled,” said Mario Alberto Garza, president of the CEENL.

The governorship of Nuevo León is considered the “jewel in the crown” of these June 6 elections, in which more than 93 million Mexicans were called to renew the 500 deputies of the federal Congress, 15 of 32 governorships, 30 local congresses and more than 1,900 municipalities.

The contest aroused national controversy due to the interest expressed by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who in his daily press conferences accused De la Garza, current mayor of Monterrey, of vote buying, who in turn denounced the president before the Organization of American States (OAS).

In addition, the president’s candidate, Clara Luz Flores, started as the favorite, but her campaign collapsed in March after a video was revealed in which she appears with Keith Raniere, leader of the NXIVM sex sect.

García, who is allegedly being investigated by the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) for alleged use of illicit resources in his campaign, gained popularity thanks to his wife, the “influencer” Mariana Rodríguez, who has more than 1.5 million followers in Instagram.

But the senator has also become one of the most visible faces of the opposition to López Obrador with a campaign focused on regionalism, against the “centralism” of the president and with the threat of breaking the fiscal pact and the agreement to share the water in northern Mexico.

The victory is a triumph for Movimiento Ciudadano (MC), which would now govern the two most important states outside the capital: Jalisco and Nuevo León, the state with the lowest poverty nationwide and the second largest metropolitan area, Monterrey. with more than 5.3 million inhabitants.

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